a lovely valentine

"Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred moments so dear

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year

"In daylights, in sunsets

In midnights, in cups of coffee,

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife,

In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, a year in a life

"How about love...

Measure in love...

Seasons of love..."

February 14th, 2011 - Our 5th Valentine's Day

Carl and I have many special days of love... the day we became a couple (May 15th 2006), the day we became a couple forever (August 9th 2008), and of course - Valentine's Day.

This year, we had our Valentine's date early (for practical reasons such as avoiding too many people and very long lines) - and we had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Sandy. Carl and I love seafood, and as much as we wanted to dine somewhere in Park City, we wouldn't trade good seafood with (expensive) fancy ambience. It was so worth it... the tunes of "eat at joe's" kept playing on Carl's head!

On V-day itself, I prepared a sort of fancy dinner for us at home... and we surprised each other with our gifts. Carl brought home a beautiful bouquet and chocolate truffles, and he also gave me a very very comfy pair of PJs and a framed plaque that says "I always keep falling in love with you!" My gift for him was a chrome watch from Fossil which I think he really liked.

We had a beautiful dinner in candle light and every time I'd bring out the next course, Carl would say, "wag na muna kasi matatapos na ang dinner pag kinain na natin." Yup - he didn't want it to end!

Valentine's Dinner Menu

Appetizer
Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
Baked Porcinis stuffed with crabs and cream cheese and topped with parmigiano reggiano
Salad
Baby Spinach and Cranberries with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Fresh baby spinach, dried cranberries, and almond served with tangy raspberry vinaigrette
Soup
Cheesy Broccoli Soup
Entree`
Tapas and Scallops
Beef tapas and pan-seared scallops served with greens and Spanish rice

Dessert
Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It was our longest dinner so far, and one of the best we've had!

Happy Valentines day everyone - Keep spreading the love!

when it rains, it pours

FEBRUARY 2010

While Carl was out of a job, he sent out countless resumes to prospective employers. When he accepted the job offer from Silla Automitive, he was still waiting for word from 2 other companies. One was a healthcare company in Los Angeles, and the other one was from The Corporation of the President, LDS Church. The latter one was a one-year internship that has promising IT training for Carl, but something that would require us to move to Riverton, Utah. On his 1^st week with Silla, Carl received a call from the Church Headquarters asking him when he will be available for a video conference interview. What's gonna happen after that interview was something we would have never expected after all that we've been through.

One night, after we've said our prayers, Carl asked me... “are you ready to move to Utah?” I thought at first he was talking about my application to BYU Graduate School. It didn't quite sink in to me that he was referring to his internship with the church. I was speechless there lying in our bed. He began by telling me how they asked him to start by April 15^th or earlier. It hasn't been a month yet since he started with Silla, and he's just about to quit...and we have a month and a half to pack up. Our kind of good rain pour has literally started...especially because Carl received a request from his future boss for him to start as early as March 1^st. Now we had barely 3 weeks to pack up and move 700 miles north of California.

We spent Valentine's weekend with friends. We watched Valentine's Day on the 13^th in Glendale, with Aprilon, Mhar and Liezel and later had dinner at Pho Citi. Mhar and Liezel stayed for the night. It was kind of our last couple of weeks together. They went to church with us, and later went on their own Valentine's day date at Kincaid. Carl and I on the other hand, bought a bouquet of flowers for Joyce. I received a gorgeous bouquet too, and we had heart shaped pancakes for breakfast earlier that day. Carl and I had dinner at Hokkaido's Seafood Buffet in Long Beach. It was awesome – better than Honolulu's Makino Chaya. Carl bought me a silver necklace for Valentine's. This was way better than last years...

A week later, Lui visited us from Salt Lake and Mhar came down again to interview for Carl's position with Silla. It was our last weekend in California. Almost all our friends from SoCal got together that weekend – to see Lui, to welcome Mhar to SoCal, and to send us off to Utah. We had dinner at Hokkaido's on Friday night, on Saturday night ate dinner at Home Town Buffet and later hit Santa Monica and walked down 3^rd Street Promenade and watched Leo DiCaprio's Shutter Island. It was another good weekend. It would have been nicer if the Pascuals were able to join us, but they were busy with getting into their new home (which was another good thing to celebrate actually!).

The week that followed was all excited, sad, rushed, but glad. We finished packing the rest of our stuff. Our bed was donated to a new family in the ward. I said goodbye to my kids Brent, Chase, and Kaylie. We had family dinner with Joyce, Jen and her kids, the missionaries, and Lei and Ricky. Jasmine gave birth to a healthy 6.9-pound baby Keana Leirose and will be home from the hospital when we arrive later that week. Carl prepped our car, and we were all set to move by Thursday night...

At the beginning of the year, Liezel told me 2010's gotta be a good year. Well, for one, Carl and I have finally found a better deal with the US economy. As for our friends, the Pascuals finally bought a home for themselves, Mhar has found a job in Southern California and can now live closer to Liezel, Becky's almost done with school, Jennifer has found a family friend company and now has more time with her kids, and Joyce can help another family when an opportunity comes up just like the way she helped us get back on our tracks. I guess Liezel's vision of a better 2010 is pretty accurate...

Now its time for a new adventure...

WHAT MATTERS MOST ON VALENTINES DAY

I have always thought of Valentines Day to be the most romantic day of the year. Well, when I was still that idealistic young girl... I thought it should be like that... until Valentines Day 2005. I didn't have a date and I didn't even try to make plans for myself - like celebrate my singleness at that time. By the spur of the moment, my good friend Kizzy and I decided we would walk up and down Session Road in Baguio City and count how many people are holding on to V-DAY ESSENTIALS, namely: roses, chocolates, gift, and a DATE. We saw some friends and some familiar faces and we had a lot of fun. That valentine night I learned that the big deal about valentines is spending it with the one you love, no matter how or where or what you do about the occasion. I love Kizzy - she's one of my best girlfriends. And most of all - I learned to love myself!

FAST FORWARD TO VALENTINES DAY 2009

This is Carl and mine's first valentines day as a married couple. I made a plan and I know he did too. I planned for a gorgeous pancake breakfast with strawberry syrup. I know Carl is always amazed by what I prepare on the table, so this time I thought I'd include him in the preparation... I was starting to prep the pancake ingredients when he asked me to go for a morning walk first...then we'll make pancakes when we get back... I said ok, and headed to our door...

Then this was what happened next...

I've been playing around with my camera lately...
Here's one!

The pancake idea failed. I got really frustrated because I wanted to shape them like hearts but the batter was too soupy. It was probably the milk's fault - instead of 3/4 cup I put 1 cup. I tried to "repair" my pancake batter by adding more flour - tadah! NO MORE FLOUR! I tried my luck and added cake mix to substitute the flour. It was already ten o'clock. As I attempted my third pancake, Carl told me we had to be ready by 11:ooam because Jasmine and Scott are driving us to town. I gave him THE LOOK - I felt like, there I was trying so hard to make heartshaped pancakes for valentines brunch...and there he was telling me to drop all my plans because we have to work with his sister and future brother-in-law's schedule. I was furious inside. I gave up on my pancakes... I poured the batter down the drain...I was upset. I opened the TV and watched Ace of Cakes on Food Network.

11:30 and there was no sign of Jasmine and Scott - not even a call. I asked Carl if he wanted to eat lunch at home or still wait for our company. He said he was getting hungry...I made lunch. This wasn't in my plan - but I worked my magic though... I stared at the fridge for about two minutes - I took out some honey ham, a chicken thigh, bean sprouts, and chinese cabbage. I decided to make Ham & Chicken Wrap (without the cheese) and Garlic Bean Sprouts.

Here's us preparing for our Valentine Lunch

Finished Product!

We finally got a call from our company and they were picking us up at around 2:oopm. We got ready - but we didn't get ready for the appropriate activity. All these time we thought we heading straight to town. Little did we know that we were going to take a dip in the water first. TADAH - SURPRISE SURPRISE. You know me, I don't really like sudden twist. When Jasmine came with the "we're going to go swimming at Hukilau" announcement, I tried to be calm and just asked for extra five minutes to change into my swimming suit.

Here's a couple of pictures we had... We went swimming with Jasmine, Scott, Mike (Scott's brother), and April (our good friend)

The waves were awesome...

... and I must admit, this unplanned swimming activity swept some of my upset feelings away. The waves probably took them back to the sea! 

After that cool swim, I knew we were definitely going to town right after. We gave ourselves an hour to dry ourselves and get ready for our dinner dates. Jasmine and Scott made plans to see the Boyz II Men concert at Blaisdell in Honolulu...and Carl and I planned to be dropped off at our dinner destination, then meet up again by midnight. When they came to pick us up at our house, I wasn't ready yet. I got too caught up on choosing a dinner destination. Our choices were: Assaggio, Romano's Macaroni Grill, Tanaka of Tokyo, Tsukiji, Dave & Busters, Red Lobster, and Old Spaghetti Factory. We decided we wanted to dine at Red Lobster. When we got to the car, Jasmine told us we're all heading to Waipahu to eat at Max's! I looked at my husband...and he knew what to do. Besides, if we go all the way to the west side, they might miss the concert...So we headed to Honolulu and I started to daydream about Red Lobster.


We thought we'll be saved from the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at the restaurants. We were wrong. We couldn't afford to wait that long because Jasmine and Scott decided to eat with us and they can't be late for the concert. We gave up Red Lobster and drove to Ala Moana. Again, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at Romano's, Assaggio, Ruby Tuesdays, and Bubba Gump. Jasmine was really hungry already - all she had for the day was a power bar. Carl and I had lunch so we were fine. As for Scott, maybe he was trying to skip meals intentionally.


So anyway...we ended up having dinner at Ala Moana's Makai Market. Yup, the food court. After going around twice, We tried Mama's Spaghetti House. I had Seafood Supreme with Caesar Salad and Carl had Bay Shrimp Pasta. (We still had the Red Lobster hangover...). It wasn't bad at all - we were full! And I really enjoyed my pasta because it had Capers. They were like green peas but smaller and more olive in color. When you bite them, they burst in your mouth and you get all the wonderful flavors of the sea! I swear - I probably told Carl how happy I was with the capers hundred times that night! Anyway, after dinner we took a stroll to Ward Cinemas. We watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic - and we had a blast!


So there...none of the things we really planned happened on Valentines Day. But so what? I was reminded of the lesson I learned four years ago - Spend the day with the one you love, it doesn't matter how, where or what you do about the occasion. And I learned something new... heart-shaped pancakes are not exclusive to Valentines Day breakfast because you can make anyday, Valentines Day!

Spread the Love!

The Greatest Wife in the World!

Mommy,
Happy Valentine's Day.
I love you.
Daddy