Back in the Philippines! Arrived here at 10pm on 10-7-08. I didn't have any delays with any of my connections this time, thank goodness. The 15 hour flight was so long though, I tried to sleep most of it.

I had a little trouble finding F.B. at the airport, since it was the larger airport this time. When I got my luggage and got through customs I had to go outside and was asking the guards where the waiting area was. There wasn't too many signs, so I called F on his cell phone and he said he could see me and to wait where I was and he would go get the car.

We got back to his house around 11:30pm. He gave me a red rose and a rattie stuffed animal.
















(The door to F.B.'s room.)













My first day in the Philippines we went to change my money into some peso's and then headed to 'Big R' the mall near F.B.'s house. We stopped at the supermarket so I could pick up some toothpaste, shampoo, etc. And we also stopped at the music store and F.B. got me the new Cueshe c.d. for my belated birthday gift. Later that afternoon we checked out the new mall in Marikina City.

There's a new stray cat hanging around F.B.'s house. He calls him 'Stupid Cat' because he always runs away when F.B. tries to pet him. I think he liked me though, he sniffed my hand and posed for me!

October 9th, was F.B.'s 29th birthday. We had lunch at home and headed to Mega Mall. It was pouring rain and hard to see when driving. It's been cool here at night time, I get cold! (In the Philippines!) We watched 'Tropic Thunder' with Ben Stiller at Mega Mall. I thought it was okay, but F.B. really "liked" it.

Around 7pm we met up with F.B.'s parents and his sister at Mega Mall and went to Saisaki Buffet for F.B.'s birthday dinner.

Today we just hung out around the house. Slept in late and played around on my laptop. And picked up F.B.'s Dad and Sister later in the evening.

Blogging from my cell phone! It's tuesday evening around 6pm. I'm in Hong Kong waiting for my flight to the Philippines!

Edit 10-9-08: Just wanted to updated & let everyone know I'm in the Philippines! I arrived 10-7-08 around 10pm. Today is F.B.'s birthday. I've been on the dial up for an hour paying bills so and we're tired and have to get up early. So I will blog another night with some pictures!

The countdown is on. I leave for the Philippines Monday! Yesterday I was out sick. There's been a virus going around at work and I caught it. A lovely little head cold. Blah. I spent Thursday in bed. Oh well... the first time I visited the Philippines I gave F.B. a cold. And in January his family was passing around a cold & I ended up catching it. So I guess it's my turn again to give him a 'sipon' (cold in tagalog.) Going to sleep in most of this weekend and finish packing on Sunday. So maybe I can get rid of this cold. Been taking extra vitamin C all week.

Next Monday I'll be off to the Philippines! There's just 9 days left until I leave now! I really was going to pack next weekend, but I decided to start packing the stuff I'm not wearing. So I spent the morning packing. Next weekend, I'll just have to wash and pack the clothes I will wear this week and pack all the miscellaneous last minute stuff. Decided not to take my bright purple suitcase because it's not going to be big enough and I don't really want to take two bags with all the new luggage rules at the airport. So I'm taking my huge black suitcase with wheels and a smaller suitcase with wheels for my carry on. (Since I'm taking the laptop this year!) And that will be it, besides my purse.

Give a rat a tissue box... and they make a new bed! My ratties love old tissue boxes. (Any old box really!) I should have bought 3 tissue boxes! Instead they had to take turns with this one, what good girls! Hee hee!

Sugar, Cinnamon & Spice:

Just 13 days until I am off to the Philippines! Next weekend I have to pack! AAAH! It's coming up so quickly.

Just 23 days until I am off to the Philippines! Today I finally got the paper back from my supervisor. She had submitted my vacation & leave without pay request back on August 21st. Monday she said our department head had said "Yes". But I really wanted the copy back from him signed, so I had proof I was actually approved. So Thursday she emailed him and today before I left for work she gave me the signed copy back. So I am approved for my vacation, because it doesn't look like we'll be getting furloughed there is too much work this year... and now hurricane Ike is looking like it may be bad and whenever FEMA needs assistance with the phones, we take the overflow calls that FEMA can't handle. The last time we did that was with hurricanes Katrina & Rita, 3 years ago. It was pretty tough and emotional handling calls from people calling for disaster assistance that had lost everything....

But... I am approved and I am leaving for the Philippines in 23 days! Started getting stuff for my trip last week and ordered some clothes. I have to go shopping next weekend for some jeans & maybe a few new t-shirts. Picked up some snacks for my flight. I usually take a dried fruit mix, with yogurt raisins. And I got some rice crispy treats too. Usually I get granola bars, but I wanted something different this time.

F.B.'s grand mom & aunt were visiting from Mindanao last week. They went to the Manila Ocean Park, the new Aquarium on my birthday. F.B. & I are going to go there when I visit. I saw on the website they also have a glass bottom boat ride, that sounds pretty neat! And I also want to visit the Zoo at some point. Something different for us. There's a new mall that opened in Marikina City that we can check out. The malls in the Philippines are just crazy. They have so many and they are soooo huge! Mall of Asia is one of my favorites. And also the smaller malls near his house.

I'm excited, the trip is getting closer. I'm not looking forward to traveling for 24+ hours though. It's a full day of travel and the worst flight is my 15 hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. I will have several flight changes. You can click here to check out my flight itinerary.

Just a note: I try to include alot of links related to each blog post. So if you click on the links in my blogs it will give you more information on what I'm posting about.

If you have read my blog from the beginning you would know F.B. & I met on a 'Lindsay Lohan' forum 5 years ago. (See Here) Sometimes people ask how we met each other and I usually just say "online". For close friends I always say with a laugh, "In a Lindsay Lohan forum..."

So you would think since that is where F.B. & I met we should be diehard fans and grateful to Lindsay Lohan for somehow bringing us together. Honestly... not so much anymore for me. I liked her back in the day when she was a good little actress. My favorite movie she was in was the new 'Parent Trap' and the remake of 'Freaky Friday'. That was the movie that made F.B. & I join up on the forums in the first place. He being a fan & I joining up to look for guitar chords for one of the movie songs. We never joined up looking for a relationship... it just sort of happened after talking with each other & becoming friends.

I don't think I would call myself a Lindsay Lohan fan anymore. I don't think any of her movies aside from 'The Parent Trap', 'Freaky Friday' are worth watching. And I especially don't like the way she has conducted herself the past 5 years. (Hmmm... that seems to be a trend with past Disney stars.) Everything aside though.... I do have to smile when I think of the time we spent on the Lindsay Lohan forum 5 years ago. After all if it wasn't for the movie 'Freaky Friday' F.B. & I would have never crossed each other's paths.... and for that I am truly thankful!

*General Update* Just 3 weeks until I am off to the Philippines! Yay! I also got to have a nice birthday lunch with my family Saturday at the Chinese Buffet near our house. And I received a surprise birthday letter & 3 cards from F.B. on the 5th. Awww... just a day late for my birthday. Hehe. He didn't tell me he was mailing anything so it was really a surprise. It took 3 weeks to get here though! International mail is so slow.

Well, I am 26 years old today. I was actually able to take off work for my birthday. I realized when I'm on vacation using my vacation leave I will still get 2 more paychecks and will accrue 12 more hours of vacation leave. So that allowed me to take today off. I was already scheduled off for the whole week so I was able to sleep in today until 12pm. Yay! I am always up at 5:30am on workdays.

Just spent a quiet day at home. My parents called from the shore to wish me a happy birthday. And F.B. called me and we chatted for 20 min. Then we got to spend time online with each other for a few hours. Saturday I'm going out with the family for a "birthday" lunch. And next weekend I get to go out with my cousins for a "birthday" dinner. Back to work tomorrow... but thank goodness the weekend is here!

The ratties really enjoyed the ice cream cake I had for my birthday. Here's some pictures:

P.S. I found out yesterday Fall Out Boy's new album is coming out November! Whoo hoo! I saw them in concert last October. They are so good live! The new single 'I don't care' is good too. I hope it's out in the Philippines when I'm over there so I can buy it! They are my favorite band. :-)

Happy Labor Day everyone! Hope everyone had a nice holiday. Just 34 days until I am off to the Philippines. Wow... just a little over 4 more weeks to go! I still have to get things straightened out with work. I submitted my vacation request, still waiting for it to be approved. I wish they would just furlough us... it's been a long season. I've never worked past Labor Day before... only when hurricane Katrina hit. And that was only because FEMA needed extra people on the phones, so work asked employees that were furloughed to come back to work for that. I'm only seasonal, so it's surprising to be working this long in the year. I am usually furloughed in August and go back to work in January.

Anyhow... I have to pick up last minute items. Snacks for the plane, batteries, aspirin, sleeping pills, stuff like that. Mostly just stuff for my carry on. I'll probably pack that Friday night before I leave. F.B. & I want to visit the zoo and the aquarium when I'm there this time. That will be something new & fun to do. And of course we get to spend 5 days in Makati City again.

I was really sick last week. I had a nasty head cold which ended up aggravating my asthma. My asthma was worse when I was younger. Now it only seems to bother me in extreme heat/cold or when I get a bad cold. I wasn't able to breathe right last week and my lungs were hurting because of the head/stomach virus. I ended up staying home from work last Tuesday & Wednesday.

My parents & 2 younger brothers went down to the shore for the week. I have to work this week, so my 20 year old brother & I have just been home. I've been being "domestic". Lol. Sunday I spent the day scrubbing, mopping & cleaning the kitchen & bathroom. Also baked some chocolate chip cookies & made some rice crispy squares. I can cook & bake when I try. Hehe. I woke up this morning aching all over though from all the cleaning I did on Sunday. Ow.

My 26th birthday is Thursday. I have to work. Blech. But I'm going to pick up Starbucks after work! I've been trying to cut back on Starbucks. I used to go every Friday. But that was becoming expensive. So I finally decided to break myself of that habit by saying I wouldn't have any until my birthday. After that I'm only going to have Starbucks once a month. There's also a lovely little chocolate carvel ice cream cake waiting in the freezer for Thursday, haha. And my brother is going to take me out to the Chinese buffet for lunch this Saturday.

I didn't really ask for much for my birthday this year. (Last year because it was my 25th my parents gave me an 80GB Video Ipod. Whoo!) This year I received the game Scattergories; which I asked for so F.B. & I can play together when I'm in the Philippines. Our other favorite game is Scrabble! I'm a word game kind of girl. If any of you guys have a video ipod download the game Scrabble from Itunes... so addictive! The best game for ipod, ever!

F.B. will be also be calling me on my birthday. Yay! So looks like I will have a nice birthday. I just wish I didn't have to work... yuck. What sucks is... I was actually scheduled off all this week... but because we are not being furloughed any time soon and I have an 8 week trip coming up they want me to save my vacation time for my trip... so I have to work. Blah. I've only got enough leave saved up for 4 weeks. After that they want me to take leave without pay... yay... oh well... just 34 more days left until I get to be with my boy!!!!

I forgot my bracelet arrived on Wednesday! (My early birthday gift to myself, hehe.) I ordered it from Esquivel & Fees. They do amazing work. Every piece is custom made. My bracelet also has a lifetime guarantee and I can send it back to them for repairs if needed. Yay for Ratties! I took a picture with the flash & without.