Anniversary

I’ve recently discovered a mommyblog that I like and am stalking her site now. Going back through her old entries, I stumbled upon this post. Sakto for today since it’s our anniversary (well, that was last Friday – April 25, As usual late posting).. Yes, 5 years and counting. 🙂

Anyways, Jhanis joined a 7-days blog challenge and I’ll go with her by putting them altogether in 1 post. 🙂 So here goes..

1. Share the first picture taken of you and its story.

I really can’t remember our first photo together but here’s one from 2002. This was taken after their adventure race (yes, he’s adventurous), thus a sleeping Dino. Being his ever supportive girlfriend and number one cheerleader, I cannot miss this event. I remember telling my brother a made up work related event just so I can be there. Hope my brother is not reading this now, but I think he had ideas of my white lies before. In fairness to me, I never lied about my whereabouts. I always tell the truth where I am, just in case (knock on wood 3x) something went wrong. AND, my sis-in-law always knows the real reasons – I think he knows this too.. hehe.. Super defensive ba?! hehe

2. Share a story of the first homemade meal. I’ve been part of the de Leon’s household for so long that my weekend meals are always spent with them. I remember Dino and I prepared veggie pizza (something we learned from our trip to Batad) for dinner one time and everyone liked it. Once, we planned to do this again, but forgot to buy the pizza crust, we ended up tweaking it and we had vegetable curry instead.

I can’t remember what we had during our first meal as husband and wife. But there were a few times where he was the one who cooked our Saturday night meals. I still have Saturday work then and would not get home until 7:30. His first dish was Adobong Manok and it was really good (he still brags about it until now). I asked him the other day about it and he complained that it’s not only adobo that he cooked, his Chicken curry is also very good and I have to agree. 🙂

This is not his chicken curry, this is the best curry we had though.. :).

Trivia, Dino never had any experience in their kitchen when he was still a bachelor (that’s daddy’s – my inlaw’s turf) and I don’t consider mountain cooking as cooking. hehe.. I bet he’ll be a better cook than me, if he just have patience for it. 🙂

3. Share your favorite present received before marriage. Am very easy to please that even a bag of chocolate sends me chills all over. I also love receiving flowers from Dino but this stopped when we realize that if we add a little more to the cost of those bouquets, we can dine in fine dining restaurants already. So when he came to my office with a bouquet, V-day of 2008, I was super kilig. (Didn’t I tell you am easy to please?)

There’s another thing I learned from Dino that I would say I appreciate the most. It’s the love of nature and outdoor. It was with him that I experience travelling – leisure and hardcore. My first ever climb was in Tarak ridge (Mariveles). Dino said that this is a beginner’s climb, but everybody said that it’s not. Ang saya diba?! I did not regret going though. I also have this ~~bad~~ habit of promising myself not to join them, next time they invite me for another “beginner’s climb” but always ended up climbing with them. hehe..

Rapelling in Batangas, I was so scared of letting go. Dino always pushes me to try stuffs. He’s right, I loved it.. 🙂

4. Share the moment you knew he was the one. Those times when all his flaws does’t seem to matter anymore. Hep hep hep… Before you get all carried away, am not a saint, I still get ~~pissed off~~ irritated with it at times. (until now? Yes!) Since I’ve learned to accept them, I can easily shrug it off. If I do mention it to him, more often than not, he’ll make fun and laugh at it doubling my irritation. Arrgh!!! So ~~better~~ best option is to just shake it off!! Hehe.

Those times when you are fighting and you’re in the ‘don’t talk to me’ mode, then you remembered something and you talk to him without remembering that you’re in the ‘don’t talk to me’ mode. Then both acting as if nothing happened. (this often happen in less than 30 mins)
And that time when he showed me respect. Not pushing me to do the thing am / we’re not ready to do. I knew then that this man is worth keeping. 🙂

Pictorial at Baywalk (Roxas Blvd.) after our church wedding..

5. Share the first song he dedicated to you. Fallen by Lauren Wood. He sang this over the phone when he was still pursuing me. (kilig much)

6. Share your family’s first impression of him. Among the guys I dated, it was only Dino that I did not hear any negative reaction from my brothers. (I think this is another sign to #4).

My relatives was a different story. I came from a Chinese family that is a bit traditional. When they learned that am dating a Filipino guy, my aunts and uncles became instant match makers. Well, they didn’t know Dino personally then. When I brought Dino to his first Hao family reunion experience (he was amazed, I guess, if that’s the right term) and all the match making came to a stop. It came to a point that they want Dino present in reunions even if am not available. Do they like him? Be the judge! 🙂

7. Share with us a typical date. A typical date of our un-wedded version would always include eating and lots of eating. We love street foods especially. One of our most memorable date was our 120 peso date. We had Shawarma Rice, Pao Tsin Rice with toppings (forgot which we got, but am guessing it’s the fried shark’s fin dumpling, it’s Dino’s fave) and 2 glasses of gulaman at SM Manila food court then before bringing me home, we stopped by Ate’s kiosk nearby to eat Fish balls, fried tofu and hotdogs. We are happy that way. 🙂

one of our stop overs going to Koh Samui

8. Write a letter to your freshly engaged self with tips on living with your husband today.
Dear Juvs ver. 2009,
Try to discourage buying Pajeyow if you can.. hehe..
Anyway, you made the right choice in marrying him… Stay happy.. 🙂
— Juvs ver. 2014

To my Bobe, Happy anniversary!! Looking forward to more adventures with you. Love you. 🙂