crazy (in a good way) week...

My brother-in-law who has been working in Qurayat (also in Saudi Arabia but it's almost near Jordan) came for a visit and stayed with us for a week. It was nice to have someone, especially a family, in the house to bond with the kids. Since he's too far away from us, we maximized his stay here in Riyadh doing some dining out and shopping.  For 10 days now we have been going out a lot, getting home at past midnight and sleeping at around 2 am. Though tiring, it's all worth it since we don't get to do this all the time.  It was also during the past week that we had to make some practices for our culminating presentation for the CLP we have been attending every Friday for the past 8 weeks. We had a blast and it was truly an experience of a lifetime to be part of that community. Now we can say we already have an extended family here in the kingdom..we will never be alone and bored anymore, hehe..

family pic with Jay-Jay

with hubby and brother-in-law's uncle and aunt with their youngest son

dined out at Kruathai (a Filipino-Thailander resto)

brothers

dined out for pizza

hubby and i

our adorable boys (especially when they're all sleeping, lol...)

a photo after the culminating activity for a community we just joined in

We still have loads of activities this week and we're looking forward to all of them. =)

BIANCA...

I never liked pets! not because i hate animals but because i know how short their lives are compared to us and i get really attached to them..

we had our larador retriever, Bianca, in 2005 when she was already around 6 years old..she was very sweet and played with us like a puppy..she was very protective of us and she loved the kids..

This coming December, we will be going back to the Philippines for a vacation and there will be no more Bianca to welcome us..she died last week and because we were not there, it is only now while looking at her picture that it really sank in me that she's gone..

we love you Bianing. we will surely miss you.. =(

birthdays,minor problems and happy endings...

i have a feeling this will be a long post if i'll write it in paragraph form so i've opted for bullets =)

• 5:00pm we are preaparing to go out of the house for a quick errand then we're supposed to go to a friend's birthday dinner
• 5:30pm electricity went off..hubby checked the switch, breaker, etc..then found out only our unit's electricity is out.
• 6:00pm we quickly got dressed - original errand was aborted..
• 6:30pm left the house to go to another friend's house. PLAN: Enan will just drop us off then he will go to our flat's AKARI (real estate office) to report the problem
• 6:45pm we're already at our friend's place..hubby then decided to just attend the party with us and we'll just leave early to go to AKARI together
• 7:45pm already at the party..see photos =)

worry-free, hehe

•   9:45pm left the party..on our way home, hubby called the AKARI office about our situation. they assured us they're going to send someone to check..
•   10:45pm still waiting for the electrician. SCENE: we're all in our receiving area, total darkness, we left our front door open.  a friend keeps on calling to check on us and insists we stay at their place for the night..
• 11:10 AKARI informed us that only the Electric company can fix the problem since we're the only unit without electricity.. we tried to call Saudi Electric Company but couldn't get through..hubby decided to just take the matter in his own hands and called an electrician within the area.
• 11:45 ELECTRICITY'S BACK! thank you God! =)

        turns out there's another breaker in the building we didn't know about and it tripped..yeah! it just tripped..and all the electrician had to do was to push it up.  TOINK!!!

        What matters is we learned not to stress ourselves too much..and the fact that we have friends who are really concerned for us and are willing to help out somehow made all things a bit easy..
God is truly amazing...He really makes a way! =)

note: my story-telling skill sucks, haha...

thinking aloud..

i believe my body's just fine and i really have nothing to complain about (except for my slow metabolism). But i really don't feel healthy..there are times when i would catch my breath after reaching for something over my head. I easily get tired probably because of lack of exercise. i'm considering some yoga positions and i want to commit myself to do them everyday..even for just a few minutes in the morning..

rocking boat

upward dog stretch

1 minute plank pose

bent-leg boat raise and lower

but then i know yoga makes you sweat alot..and that's a problem..I DON'T LIKE SWEATING...so good luck to me.. lol..

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/bikini/4-yoga-moves-for-a-slimmer-middle-2046312/

if ever i have realized something over the past 2 weeks, it would be that  1.  whenever life seems difficult the only way to lift yourself up is to look at all the positive things that surround you   2. prayer is a powerful tool because the only one who can  truly  console you is God   and 3. accept that you are weak and that you couldn't handle things alone..the moment you claim this, it's when simple miracles happen, like feeling better, hehe  =)

it's Thanksgiving Thursday again..Hurray! =)

i'm thankful because..
1.  it's weekend already, yey!
2. Ramadan is just around the corner, so it means hubby will only be out for work for about 6 hours, 9:30am-3:30pm..i love ramadan, hehe...
3.  tomorrow will be another session for Couples For Christ's Christian Life Program..
4.  i'm still breathing..
5.  there are lots of amazing mommy bloggers out there who share inspiring posts, consciously or unconsciously, and i'm learning  a lot from them =)


speaking of mommy blogs..come join Mama Hen of www.mamaslittlechick.blogspot.com in her new brainchild http://www.mamaslittlenestwork.com/ where you can meet wonderful mom bloggers..

and i would also like to thank the awesome mom behind http://blog.cassiopeiachats.com/ for sharing with me her Versatile Blogger Award...

yey! things like this make me happy =)

HELLOOOO!!!!

i missed blogging...
i missed my daily reads...
i missed commenting on awesome posts...
i missed my daily routine...

last week we went to the mall to look for some stuff for my husband and i chanced upon this dress from Pull and Bear which is a left-over from the recently concluded (hehe) sale season here in Riyadh. I got it for 59 saudi riyals which is still a bit too high for me but considering its original price at SR119, it's still a good deal, right?

note: gray fabrics were originally not part of the dress...

as soon as we got home i noticed its a racerback dress - which i'm really not comfortable wearing . i don't wanna return it nor have it exchanged because i really love its floral print and color...so i worked on a little magic..haha

i took out an old tank top and cut out the edges and hand-sewn them on the back part of the dress..

then to make it appear really part of the dress, i attached a piece of the front part of the tank top to the neckline of the dress and voila! i'm more comfortable in it now, hehe.

don't mind my stitches...  =)

oh, and it's also kinda short for me so i would probably (or definitely!) wear leggings with it, unless i'd wear it to the beach - in the Philippines, that is..or any country other than Saudi Arabia, lol...

it's good to be back!