We have arrived in Sydney

It was a long no. of hours as my boys and I left from my Laguna house to go to Pilar Village and then to the airport,.. I was just so worried about my baggage allowance and my kids coping in the airport and plane that I didnt realise my top was back to front. For ppl who know me -- I try as best to prepare for major events in my life however this was one of those days I was too preoccupied about everything else. Anyways the baggage was A ok ! and we were even 7 kilos underweight -- darn i left my big shot and supply of Mamy Pokos with all that worry -- ok I can live with that,.. better underweight.... than excess right?

So my 3 rugrats -- 2 in strollers and one walking was really raring to go since the whole waiting at the check in drove them crazy,... Imagine this picture -- they were running and floor polishing the whole airport floor! Some very concerned passengers tried to scare my kids to behave but -- haaay i felt like my kids were like monkeys let loose,...

My mom and mil just let them be as long as they were within eyes' view --- the baggages were finally checkin - our seats taken and darn we got there at 4:30 and finished quarter to 7,.... how swift is that -- NOT!

We got so hungry and settled for some wonton soup -- good thing Jerome let me put him the stroller as we made our way to Gate 2 -- we passed the immigration with no hassle and stopped over duty free for some Shea Body butter from Body Shop,.... My mil was just the best because as my mom bought some for my sister's order.....she asked me if I wanted.. God bless her she bought me 2 and darn had I ask for more-- she would have given me... My kids cooperated to get some dinner and had their food same time as us... so after their food recharge again they went on running fit over the seats -- the ppl stared and laughed -- I just sat down and gave up.... My mom said just put up with it.

So our whole trip was not so bad -- we got on our seats and we got 2 window seats and aisle -- I had the baby Jorel who made mash out of my whole body -- felt like i was being massaged by force! He did sleep the whole trip but each time he really wanted to change position -- he would cry and whimper and so you can just imagine I didnt sleep either..Jerome had been sleeping blissfully all stretched out between me and mom. Jacob who demanded the window seat slept soundly nxt to MIL... He was no bother to my dutiful MIL who wanted to bring us to OZ....

The food was usually bad and they took so long to turn of lights that delayed my kids sleeping... I was tired yes but we got to OZ and we got thru immigration then customs with no hassle.

Patrick has the nicest smile to see the boys -- he kept saying how much they have grown in the longest 6 weeks of his life...I got a nice smack too and thank GOD he missed me too! hhaahaah He better!....

So the past days --- after our arrival here hasnt been bad -- I was just psyching myself up that its all going to be better tomm -- my kids havent been in their routine of eating and sleeping but we are getting by.

I have been sneaking of with my Patrick and MIL to buy our living, dining and bedding furniture and our appliances. We also had to buy boosters for the kids so we can squeeze them in my fathers all BMW -- no real budget to buy a van just yet...

We had our washing machine and ref delivered today. I cleaned for 2 hours today -- kitchen, vacuumed the 2 bedrooms. On Wed our furniture -- tomm. I will be continuing to clean the bath room tommorow,... How domesticated can one get !

We did our massive grocery to buy everything a house needs -- cleaning agents, kitchen needs, cooking needs and food for the kids to eat at home.... haaay it will not end till nxt month all this need to do stuff !

So that recaps what I have been doing here.... the kids are ok -- not bad I guess but I just hope they dont continue to bash my nieces or the Figueroas might ban my children offlimits in the family home

Lucky ME

I have no photographs to show for this party but yet I wanted to capture the exact emotion of how I felt at the despidida my wonderful friends threw for me.... here goes.....

It was a special day -- its one of those days that would really forever be etched in my mind and my heart,.. its a venue filled with people who have touched my life and I have touched too. I knew somewhere down the road -- if you take the time to talk to a person, offer anything -- advise, a story, a simple joke or just even a simple email or ym message -- it makes a difference. For that I am glad that all this people in my party -- I have really shared special moments of my life.

My hobby is a way of life and the friends I have met are a part of me. They have affirmed me in ways unimaginable,.. their sweet words, their beautiful layouts and the fact they gave me their time -- I am so humbled and so happy to have across them along my creative journey....

I am a very sentimental person -- I dont forget little gestures, I dont forget to try and give some thing back,.... and I guess all this people found something special in me.... I am finally starting to realise that HECK -- there must be some thing good in me. I have always felt that I was never perfect, never the one that people relied on or one that people sought for anything. Its a great feeling to be loved, to be wanted and to be appreciated. All my life I always felt I was not good enough. It was yesterday that I finallly felt I measured up,.. that meron pala akong halaga.

Everyone knows I always go beyond the call of duty, hangang kaya ko gagawin ko. I stand proud to say that I have done my part to help all my friends and to be honored like that yesterday -- 'nakakahiya man' but it truly warmed my heart. I promised myself I wouldnt cry much -- if I can hold it I will. I guess I was a little successful but there were moments I couldnt comprehend how these people spoke about me. I was so touched. I was really moved to tears.

I equally stand proud because my mom was by accident there to see and hear my honoring. Of course I would forever talk about my group to my mom and I fell tickled pink she lived to see that -- just so she knows how much I love my group and how proud I am of all of you. Its also nice to show her what she helped me achieve since she is my NO.1 supporter of my scrapbooking.

For now my work ceases -- its time to really do my 'mommy duties' -- get used to it and when I get on my feet again -- I will come back with vengance -- and hopefully get back to the scrapping swing of things again,....

To my Scrappin moms partners -- I will always miss having you close to me,.... I am forever grateful you helped me realise my dreams. I will be forever grateful -- you accepted me and just loved me for who I am,.... I thank you for sharing your talents with me -- you guys all inspire me to do better in my craft. Thanks so much for the love and the support,...

To Tin and Mia, my bosom buddies -- ty for the venue yesterday and everything else,.. will see each other soon.

To our suppliers, Nette, Vivian, Helen, Mitch and Marinela -- ty for taking the time to see me off -- am so touched you were there,... Thank you for the support you give Scrappin moms, I hope you all know, we will do our darndest to help the scrapbooking industry.

To the LB Scrapbaholics -- ty for going the distance to see me off again -- you guys are the best ! Keep learning and keep winning contests ok !

To the Pinoy scrapbookers, Nita, Jane, Lee, Donna (hope i dont forget anyone...)-- ty so much for the laughter, for the friendship and for the support in all Scrappin Moms activities.. Soon I will also join the PS challenges too !

My other friends, GIGI, Mela, Arlyn, Candy, Christine , Alby--thanks again for attending, I hope you guys get more into the hobby! I will surely miss the laughter and the chats we have !

Tito Jeff and Tito Meng, for providing the photography and comedy spiels of the day ! hahah

April too for twisting my husbands hand in writing a special note for me -- thats a milestone alright ! Definitely scrappable

those also who sent their layouts -- oh my,you guys really floored ME with sensational layouts -- ty...so touched to have it in my album -- salamat talaga.... ay naku lagot ang SYDNEY -- will be super bombarding them how great scrapbook artists my friends are !

thank you all too for making me QUEEN For a day!

I love my friends

The weekend has just passed and we organized what would have been Punta Fuego sleep over with neverending chat and scrap time.. however we ended up at Ria Mojica's house... I understand now that we neednt have a near to perfect setting to have an excellent weekend. The company alone was PERFECT already!

Just the sheer laughter and great company was enuff to really make me realise how lucky I am to have my friends,... we laugh,we cry over the littlest things and we are all in the same wavelength about a lot of things.

I think this is what really hurts me most to leave the PHILs.. all my life I have struggled where I belong, where I feel at home -- I have found my home thru my friends,... its with them I feel like I can just be ME and its with them I feel I can be much more too. They give me confidence to reach higher and it is thru them I have realised my dreams. I am not perfect but with them -- imperfections are irrelevant -- because they whole heartedly accept ME who I am.

With them I feel like I am piece of a puzzle and I fit perfectly into the mould... I feel that I have worth when I am with them.

I will miss them -- my life has been perfect the past 5 years having them around.
I hope they will miss me too -- and i look forward to coming home again -- hanging out, scrapbooking with them and just laughing with them to our hearts content,...

We may not have had pictures to show but in my heart ---- the memories will forever stay --- to keep me going,... to help me even as I move on to OZ...

ty girls -- you guys are the best !

Patrick you are the best!

Patrick and I have been communicating thru webcam and yahoo messenger since he left for Australia. There were weeks that he was so so there -- but he did get job almost instantly but its not his choice - he wanted it to make sure there was money coming in. He is that kind of person, he wants to ensure the future of the family. He is in fact a worry wart when it comes to finances. He would always say we are poor and we have no money. He is the financial analyst of this household, I just run the household and take care of the kids.

So he got the job at AMP okay! However he is not happy with this job --- its not his field. A job that came from agency came up and its seems tailor fit for his Industrial Engineering experience in Manufacturing. He was so eager to get that, and I could sense an air of interest and enthusiasm from him, unlike the past weeks. I needed to hear that from him as I worried for him - he hasnt been away from us for more than 1 week !

I am just happy my family is keeping him busy and he himself wills to be happy and not miss us too much.

And so today --he was very ecstatic! The job he didnt look for and the job he wanted so much -- he got it. By the grace of GOD he is really putting all of our plans into place. Now the search is on for the apartment close to his work. Incidentally the present job he has is 15 mins drive from my moms house where Patrick is staying. Now the new job is 8 minutes drive ! How good is that ! And now we have to really find a house in the same area, a school for Jacob too. I think we can revert back to the same routine there. Patrick had his job here just in the Laguna Techno park and he would leave for work just after the school bus picked up the boys. Also he would come home for lunch to see the kids before they go to sleep for afternoon nap. Its real family time once again.....

God has been listening to our requests and prayers, for that I am glad and ever so thankful.

Scrapfest 4 - A Shining Success

Every Scrapfest we live and learn from each event and we trully believe that we are keeping our goal to share and teach techniques to our participants.

And Judging from their smiles and even their tears, we have continued this tradition with an extra plus of our scrapbookers... and 'extra plus' is that is we trully care for them. Every event is planned around them and we always have them in mind when planning for demos, to the food and even to the contents of their loot bag!

Our demonstrations were set up in U shape format to allow our participants to enjoy and learn from our "I confess" demonstration . I also sensed that the participants were a lot more confortable in this set up and they breezed through the demonstration with ease. I noticed a lot of newbies attended and I am so glad they did because we need to grow us a community. Some of the newbies already had potential and so prepared to be wowed one day ladies by the new breed of scrapbookers. Scrappin Moms idol was with the intention to set up a competition that will give rise to the talent and ingenuity of the Filipino Scrapper. A lot of them would not even care or have the guts to join but with much prodding they did.

We believe in them and we believe there is something there to tap.

Our 12 finalists are winners in their own rights --- they have lived through all the challenges with much gusto and drive -- not to just win but to challenge them selves to think and scrap outside of the box.

As we saw their work displayed, I had to grab my jaw from dropping straight on the floor because I was flabergasted on how each layout came out. Even as the winners were being announced -- our shining 12, I had felt like a mother getting all teary eyed for her childs' award. I was so impressed and so glad we gave them a venue to show their talents.

The Scrapfest was born this OCTOBER thru the great bayanihan of our suppliers. I am personally thankful to them (alongside my mommy partners) because they always give their all out support to us.

We thought of Scrappin Moms IDOL so close to the Scrapfest but jumping on the sponsorship band wagon was our beloved Scrapbukan.com and Lasting Impressions. Sahrie and Vivian needn't hear our full details - they just believed we were cooking up a great competition. And following their tracks our other friends from My little Attic, Visual Creations, Memory Lane, Buzy Bee and CID Systems who realised too, the scrappers here need to sink their teeth into something.

It is an event at the end of the year and most sponsorships are ignored for any industry. I refer to them as my angels because they have such kind hearts ! Julie and Sheryl of Bookoto lent their extra mile hands to us and helped us get sponsorship from Creating Keepsakes, Leisure Arts, Creative Memories and Somerset Memories. Scrapbukan.com under the capable hands of Sahrie Wenceslao again generously donated the KI papers in our lootbags. And to top it all off -- the photo finishes of all photo finishes, Del Monte Kitchenomics who are as excited as we are with our partnership - generously donated their products and became a highlight of our demonstration "I confess"...

All our suppliers generously donated products for raffle and loot bag and I would like to recognize the following, Elizabeth of King Jim, thank you for always supporting us in our events.
To Yellow Violet House, Rekindled Moments, Visual Creations for the wonderful lootbag scrapbook items and raffle prizes. My Little Attic, Scrapbooks Hawaii, Lasting Impression, Memory Box, and Creative ME, thank you for the wonderful raffle prizes you gave. Marisa of Scrapbooks Hawaii, thank you very much for the wonderful card kits and for helping us celebrate World Card Day.

Special thanks go out to Working Moms' Editor in chief, our beautiful friend Dedet Panabi who is always ready to lend us a hand in spreading the word about scrapbooking. I personally appreciate all the help you give us and I am glad we are the catalyst in jumpstarting your memory making goal for Zachary.

What a way to go out of Manila, to see an event full of smiles and bags full of shopping goodies and of course 12 idols who outwitted themselves to reaching the end of the 2 month competition.
As I write this, I feel a sense of pride that I was able to touch a lot of people with my infectious passion for the hobby. I may not join enough contests to win (dont you worry soon I will do that too) but its so nice to win the hearts of many scrappers and their hugs, kisses and nice words to say good bye was just enuff to make my heart burst of happiness. I heard nice words said about me that day, and I know if it weren't for the Scrappin Moms team, my dreams will never happen. I know they are a great team to continue on the traditions we have started and for sure they will even surpass our present achievements to bigger and better things! I would like acknowledge the heart and soul of Scrappin Moms, April Lim who takes care of almost everything you can think for Scrapfest... you are the best !

I know have made a difference and to me thats an excellent achievement in itself. Geographically, I maybe far away, but in spirit and in the egroup -- I will be around.............