To commemorate the day we committed to each other, Ramil and I have started a new blog. We already have our respective blogs and we thought of starting a new one, a shared one. Hopefully, we get to update it more often than our own blogs.

Despite our plans to make an exception for our 100th monthsary, a dinner at Vieux Chalet is enough for us. It’s already such a treat considering that we barely had any real date with Mateo around. So on Monday, we’ll leave Mateo with his yaya and my sister. I’m thinking of planning something more but I have to see if we could still afford it. Haha!

1. How long did you date?
Hmmm, if my memory serves me right, our first date was a movie at SM North sometime February 2000. Nope, it wasn’t a valentine date. We’re both not valentine people. Grabe, I can’t even remember the title of the movie. Haha!

2. How old is he?
Just turned 27 last April 24.

3. Who eats more?
No contest, he does.

4. Who said “I love you” first?
He did. I can’t remember the date but it was a Tuesday.

5. Who is taller?
He is, by a mere inch. Haha! Good thing I hate high-heels.

6. Who sings better?
Ask anyone who’s heard him sing and they’ll say that he’s a good singer.

7. Who is smarter?

Hmmm, this one needs a lot of thinking… Haha! I’d say I’m smarter but I’m sure he’d say he’s smarter. I guess it’s safe to say that I’m glad I married someone who’s at least as smart as me

8. Whose temper is worse?
During my sister’s speech/message on our wedding day, she said something like ‘… ate, ikaw ha… kasi pag galit ka galit lahat e…’ I’m a scorpio, he’s a taurus. Anybody who’s familiar with zodiacs would get the picture, hehe!

9.  Who does the laundry?
When we were newly married, he used to do the laundry. Then we thought that since there’s only the two of us, why not bring it to a nearby laundry shop. Then a few weeks before I gave birth, I decided to stop going to school and teaching. Doing the laundry was good exercise for me then since I’d do squats. When we got a household helper, we finally got rid of this chore. Haha!

10. Who does the dishes?
Our rule used to be… ‘if one cooks, the other does the dishes’. Again, when we got a household helper, we got rid of another chore.

 11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Me.

12. Who pays the bills?
I do but I get the money from him.

13. Who cooks dinner?
Most of the time, I do the cooking.

14. Who drives when you are together?
He’s the driver.

15. Who is more stubborn?
I guess we both have our ways of being stubborn.

16. Who kissed who first?
I’d say him but I also think it was something that just happened.

17. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?
Please see number 15. LOL.

18. Whose parents do you see the most?
Mine.

19. Who proposed?
He did.

20. Who is more sensitive?
Definitely me.

21. Who has more friends?
Since we’ve been friends since grade school, through high school and college, and we also teach at the same school now, we have the same set of friends. So I guess it’s a tie.

22. Who has more siblings?
I do, a sister and a brother. He has only one brother.

23. Who wears the pants in the family?
He does but I like to borrow it sometimes, LOL.

I had fun answering this tag. Feel free to snag it if you want

Before the wedding, there’s the couple. Before any girl dreams of the perfect wedding, she dreams of finding THE ONE. Finding the right person can be taxing, nerve-wracking, time-consuming, exhausting, and emotionally-draining. Especially if you have to go through deep shit mud before you hit gold. There are also lucky ones.

For Ramil and me, finding each other is like my mom looking for her eyeglasses when she was wearing them all along. We were classmates from grades 3 to 6. We played patintero, chinese garter, agawan base, and even piko! As fate would have it, we got accepted to the same high school and university. We were again classmates in 4th year HS and since I’m in the same barkada as his crush, we became better friends…hehe! It was inevitable that we continued to be friends in college. And in our 2nd year in UP, something beautiful crept its way between us.

Our time together as a couple hasn’t always been smooth. We argued. We fought. He made me cry lots of times. I made him cry sometimes (i’m not sure i’m allowed to divulge that info). We were hostile. We dared each other with cool offs and breaks but neither has the guts to risk losing the other. Despite these, we are a perfect fit. We are inseparable. We are bestfriends. We are madly in love with each other. We are meant to be.

I learned that love is not about finding the perfect person because there is none. It’s about seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Fights are as much a part of it as sweet nothings whispered in each other’s ears. So how do I know he’s THE ONE? I feel it deep in my gut. Because after more than 5 years of seeing each other almost every single day, there hasn’t been a time when we got tired of each other. Funny, what sealed it for me was our biggest fight ever. After the fight, I felt so drained that I told God… “if he’s not the one for me, it’s ok. I’m letting go”. That same night, lo and behold, he texted me the sweetest and most sincere message he ever made. Then I knew…

Ramil and I attended a friend’s wedding in Tagaytay last December 22, five days after our actual anniversary. Although we’ve talked about the possibility of taking advantage of the occasion to have our own thing, we went there on a let’s see arrangement. We weren’t sure if we would be able to resist going home to Mateo and so we thought that we’ll just let circumstances decide for us. We left the wedding reception at around 4 pm and we went about going around Tagaytay to check out possible accommodations for the night. Sadly, those that we’ve checked are either fully-booked, or the rooms don’t appeal to our tastes. By around 6 pm, we were ready to give up to just have dinner, coffee, and then go back home to our baby.

However, after dinner and coffee, we both could barely keep our eyes open. I offered to drive home since Ramil was more sleepy. Just as we were about to start on our way back, we came across Tagaytay Country Hotel. They have available rooms and the rooms look okay enough for us. For the first time in eleven months, we got to have uninterrupted sleep for  hours! Such a treat. LOL. We woke up real early and I immediately asked Ramil if we can go back immediately after having breakfast, he readily agreed. I think we both had enough of our ‘Mateo time-out’. We were both so eager to go back home to be with our baby.

So basically, that was how we celebrated our anniversary, by having our couple time in Tagaytay. Hopefully, we get to plan better for the next

On another note, we’re almost done with our Christmas shopping! Well, actually there are still more people I’d like to give gifts to. Unfortunately, we’ve already gone beyond our budget. Hehe! Also, I’ve started another blog. This time, a photo blog. I was inspired by Aggie’s and Litzie’s photo a day project this December that I decided to start my own. With the enormous amount of storage and bandwidth that are unused in my hostmonster account, I’ve decided to spend $10 to be able to put it in another domain. The blog follows the photo-a-day concept which means I will be posting a photo (or photos) I’ve taken for that day. Journaling my life using pictures, eh? I haven’t fixed the whole thing yet so please bear with me. Feel free to visit or link to it

When Mateo came along, our concerns, which included the most affordable diapers and different teething remedies, became less similar with theirs. I found myself gravitating towards mommies like me. Ramil and I found ourselves changing. I'd often ask him whether he regrets tying the knot at 24 and starting a family at 25 while most of our batchmates are busy climbing the corporate ladder. He'd always answer me with a resounding no and when we had Mateo, there was no doubt in our minds that we've chosen the kind of life that we want. 

Still, whenever we'd have meet-ups with our single friends, I never fail to get that eerie feeling. It felt like looking at my past self when we attended my bestfriend's birthday last Saturday. We brought along Mateo and the yaya and it made the difference all the more glaring. Most of our friends there were talking about settling down two years from now while Ramil and I will be sending Mateo to school by then (and maybe would be having another baby?hehe).

I know this isn't permanent, pretty soon our friends will be joining us with talks of household management and baby duties. The road less taken that we have chosen will inevitably get crowded as the years pass by. For the mean time, we'll continue to be amused at seeing ourselves in our friends. Ramil and I share the same sentiments, our lives are exactly how we want it to be. We know what we were saying goodbye to when we said our I do's but what's more important are the things we knew we're welcoming into our lives. 

I never thought that married life would be this good and that family life would be so much better. These days, I find myself not needing any reminders in an effort to make myself feel better. Waking up in the morning with Mateo smiling up at me and Ramil's arms around me are enough to make me feel grateful for the life I have now. 

We're still not that comfortable on the financial front but we still consider ourselves filthy rich just like before, if not more. Our days right now are filled with smiles and laughter, even if our minds are also sometimes filled with getting through to the next payday. I can't even remember the last time Ramil and I argued. We still have our usual bantering but that's what makes life with each other not boring. 

Everything is also okay, career-wise. I still consider myself a full-time SAHM, considering that I only leave the house for three hours to teach. I get to enjoy both, not wanting more or less time for each aspect of my life. Being a part-time teacher has also given me some me time, even though it's not really to pamper myself. Hehe! It has allowed me to miss Mateo everyday which, I think, is necessary for the impatient me not to feel burdened with him and with the house.

We have a good househelp/yaya with us. I can tell that she has fallen in love with Mateo too and that is a good thing. At least we know that she'll take good care of him when both Ramil and I are not around.

This does not mean I don't want anything more. Of course I do, I would love for things on the financial side to look up. But things are great right now and that's more than enough. Thank you Lord! 

I used to be skeptical about online relationships, especially those that involve romantic love. My skepticism diminished as I spent more and more time online. I started forming online relationships of my own, none of them romantic. I was able to meet a lot of people online whom I now consider friends. I learned of a lot of stories wherein they found love and Mr/Ms Right in the internet.

Nowadays, dating sites are not the only option for those seriously looking for their partners in life. People looking for marriage may have their option of more than one matrimonial site. Gone are the days when the decision for matrimony is reserved for the parents. Even cultures that used to have strong inclinations towards arranged marriages have moved towards making marriages online while keeping traditional values intact. An indian matrimonial site is just one of these. Specific sites like these keep online dating realistic. It makes sure that you will find a person that would have a better chance of a match to them.

So how about you, have you found love in the internet? Share your thoughts on online relationships.