Highway to Happy

Okay, so I am in no way an expert on this, as you would later see based on the pictures. But this afternoon, with the boyfriend, I had my very first attempt to create a real (meaning, not merely photo album style) scrapbook and I must say I'm kind of into it already. :)

For our very first scrapbook assignment, we decided upon our Hong Kong escapades as our project. Look at how we worked our way into the final product!

Step 1: Deciding on the message, layout and pictures to use

Step 2: Gathering up boarders, cut-outs and souvenirs

Good thing we didn't buy so much stuff. Turned out, mtr maps, random pamphlets and train tickets were enough already. Using those souvenirs even gave the page a more authentic Hong Kong feel.

Step 3: Do the Work!


This is where the hard part kicks in! So much about planning and designing, but if you can't put all of that into paper, it's useless. Luckily, I have an artist for a boyfriend. So no sweat! haha!

Step 4: Make it more interesting... :)

Out of blue, we just thought of putting a compass for an interesting effect. Since we can't find any picture of it in magazines, we decided to do one by ourselves. Here's how:



Step 5: FOCUS!

We started at 3:30pm. It was almost 6pm and we were nowhere near done! It was mostly my fault, though. I was distracted by the DLSU-FEU game (where we end up winning, by the way. Animo!) and this guy's hotness. tee-hee


Several minutes, a couple of double sided tapes at my hair ends and 2 pairs of sticky hands later....





Worth all the sweat!! No more lazy Saturday afternoons for us. It's now Scrapbook Saturday, all the way! :))

The general rule is this: It takes a woman in her late twenties to expect and, to some extent, deserve non-stop interrogations about settling down. I am only turning 22 this year but I have, even from almost- strangers, received random questions about wedding destination preferences. Apparently, a woman who has been with the same man for more than 5 years is an exception. In that case, let me join the club.

Being asked about dream wedding details is not really too personal. All girls have that and we all love talking about it, over and over, even, because they change as soon as another “Wedding of the Year” is published. We giggle over wedding-appropriate love songs in highschool sleepovers and we re-pick our Maid of Honor whenever we had tiffs with our bestfriend. What I’m saying is a wedding is merely an event. Ask someone about her dream wedding gown and she’ll blurt it out in a second. But asking her when, like the year or in how many years, that is a different story.

More than a hundred times, I received comments about settling down already, since I’ve been with my boyfriend for so long. I’m flattered they think we are stable enough to actually make that big step but I don’t see how they can think of us as that. Granted, we’ve known each other a long time and stayed strong through every relationship trial, but are those all it take? Sometimes, I see young people settling down and ask myself, “Why can’t we be that bold? Why don’t we just get married and make everyone believe love gives all the answers? Wouldn’t it be more dreamy that way?”. Good thing, I get back to my senses soon enough to just laugh the idea off.

Love certainly, obviously doesn’t give all the answers. Finding the right person is just about one stop in the ‘Your way to a successful marriage’ maze. I may be absolutely in love with a man but hey, I don’t have plans of marrying him if he still relies on his parents for gas allowance. Fair enough, I don’t intend to get married, too, unless I can already shell out for ALL my expenses. You see? Love doesn’t provide for financial maturity and sure doesn’t pay for a decent 150- guest wedding. And no, letting the folks pick up the wedding tab is not option. You can never be more of a hypocrite vowing to sustain a lifetime of marriage if you can’t even provide for the very first day of that very long lifetime.

Marriage doesn’t have to be immediate or unplanned or rebellious for it to be romantic. It doesn’t require the instability of the couple for it to be called a risk. No one, who clearly looks after his/her partner, would insist on being ready when faced with insurmountable evidence to the contrary. I’m not implying that there is a certain point of being “completely ready”. But there is a stage when only uncertain matters would make you feel jittery at the sound of “I do.” Having no stable job at the moment, no clear plans at the moment, no substantial savings at the moment- those things are facts and you don’t bring those ugly/scary facts into a marriage, if you intend to make it last.

Right now, in our 8th year as a couple, we are slowly, in small and unhurried steps, building up rocks that solidify the foundation of what we will someday call “family”. We have careers, we try our best to save, even in tiny measures, we step up in being matured partners and we now look at everything as a team. We encourage each other to grow as individuals, keeping a common goal at heart. Rock by rock, piece by piece, we put together whatever it takes to make our future as transparent as possible. And when our rock-hard foundation already reaches its highest, we will climb it up like a cliff, hand in hand, with a “you jump, I jump” grin on our faces and, well, we all know what’s next.

Above photo was taken more than a month ago in the streets of Hong Kong, Fortress Hill area to be more accurate. Behind us was a colorful double-decker bus that we found too cute to pass on without a picture. We spent 4 happy days there, away from the supervision of our parents, who, more than trusting us, trusted that we were all in a safe place.

Too bad we couldn’t give Hong Kong residents the same kind of assurance.

Below is another picture of a bus then- filled with Chinese nationals, who merely wanted to explore what our country is about, and this is what we gave them.

One man’s action cannot fairly reflect an entire country’s condition, true. But yesterday’s tragedy clearly mirrored how poorly we respond in case our stable and supposedly peaceful condition is being threatened. That is just sad and shameful.

Throughout our HK experience, we relied on residents, bus drivers, by-standers, attendants, to practically show us our way and help us navigate in an unfamiliar land. We met a group of teens that showed us how to get to the “very cheap” H&M. There was even this store owner who ran after us when she saw we took a wrong turn, misunderstanding her directions, just so she can patiently explain again. How can we forget that “Horror House” guy who mistaken us as Thais (which can be an advantage now), giving us some good laughs and blurting out “Mekeni” just so he can relate to our being Filipinos? There was also this busy-looking woman in her corporate attire, who didn’t hesitate to stop and give us directions to The Peak, even repeating it twice just so we wouldn’t get confused. Another lady from Ocean Park happily assisted us about the right bus no. to hop on and voluntarily gave us instructions in case we opt to take a cab. She even scribbled the name of our destination in Chinese in a piece of paper so we can show it in case the cab driver doesn’t speak English. There was also this policeman who gladly assisted us when we missed our bus stop and got lost at midnight. He tried giving instructions, with all the English he got, although we never had it right since it took us forever to interpret that he was saying bridge and not beach. Another unforgettable one happened on our last night, when we had this festive dinner at a restaurant. We met a teenage guy eating with his friends, who was surprisingly very fluent in English. We asked him a couple of crazy/funny questions before ordering because the waiters couldn’t understand us. Until now, when that “Are you taking away the tea?”- “You’re so funny!” back-to-back hirit is brought up, we get tearful rounds of laughter like it was the first time we heard it.

When news reports of the tragic incident continued coming in, I couldn’t help but remember those people and how extremely nice they were to us. I wonder if they still remember the bunch of teenage-looking, loud and always lost bunch of Filipino tourists they helped not a long time ago or they are now blinded by rage caused by the tragedy and look at all Filipinos as violent, incompetent and everything but peace-loving.

God, I hope not.