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Showing posts from 2021

IKEA PH: A Review

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Image from IKEA PH website I was not supposed to book a reservation but when i received the email, I'm glad I did. It's a bit worrying though because we were exposed to so many people at once! I'm just hoping we didn't get a Covid Freebie. Reservations are a must for going to IKEA. We've booked on the 3rd day of it's opening 11/28/2021 at 10 AM. We arrived there with no fuss, there was no line yet. We parked on the ground floor (it's paid parking! we've parked there around 8AM and left at 2PM = 90 PHP) and we've tried to park very near the entrance.  We have not eaten yet so decided to find somewhere to eat. There's a stairs that leads to the ground floor (but we're already on the ground?) which upon getting to the guards a group of older people were complaining on where they're supposed to queue because no one seemed to have a clue. It was funny that they got there earlier than us and was already expecting to be in line even though their

We have semi-moved in and it's expensive to do so.

As of this writing we have been staying in our new house for 2 weeks now and you could say that it is a bit of an adjustment especially for a house that lacks a lot of the stuff I am used to having back in my condo (heater, ac) plus the things we only found out that are kind of wrong with it. For example I never noticed there wasn't a faucet in the tiny sink in the bath. Or how the stupid seat and cover of the toilet kept on closing even while you're seating. Or how, despite of paying for it, we're stuck with useless kitchen cabinets without partitions. Again, valuable lessons I wouldn't forget if we ever get the chance to get a new house. Aside from those, obviously we don't have much stuff yet. We bought foldable beds from SnR so we have somewhere to sleep on; a plastic table, my ottomans and two office chairs as temporary office stations which also serve as our dining area. I was joking that this is what we're going to tell our kids someday, the hardships we&

Lessons we learned when we bought our house directly from owner

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 DISCLAIMER: Your experience maybe different than ours so do not take this post as your gospel. If anything, be more diligent in looking for houses, and this post is no way discouraging you to purchase DIRECT from seller nor encourage you to do the same route.  I don’t want to show the facade for privacy, but  this should do! Okay, so since the wedding, Reagan and I have been living in my condo for the past few months. Suffice to say that living with someone has it's pitfalls and wins, like I share calories with someone now, I couldn't be too lazy for menial chores because sometimes it gets too much, someone picking up the grocery tab, higher electric bill, etc. But staying here in my place was never a long term solution. In fact, we should have left months ago if it weren't for extremely bad timing.  That Friday of the week of our wedding should have been the day Reagan had to sign for our bank loan papers but had to wait for almost a month just for the bank to get back to

Gatting myself Vaxxed with AstraZeneca via HealthNOW

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I have been living in my current place for more than 7 years now and I have no IDs related to this place that one of my neighbors joked if I was really a resident here. Well of course I was but I purposely had all my IDs and bank records use our family address as my permanent address because I wanted to keep my records as outdated as I could to prevent any hits with my NBI Clearance*. It is for that reason that it kept me from ever signing up with MandaVAX because I have no ID to prove my residency here. I was supposed to attempt, but on my first try, the server was down and even before I tried again, my agency has already sent us an email regarding them providing us vaccines as well. It took a while but once I was scheduled, there wasn't any hitch.  We are partnered with HealthNOW which I think is connected to Ayala (?) and they have this app that you sign in and have yourself scheduled. The app is very much intuitive and it sends relevant SMS reminders. It needs some improvement

T&J Weds: It's done!

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We're now officially married! Last Monday, June 14 we've went to the Las Pinas City hall and we've finally tied the knot via an intimate ceremony in front of a judge. When we said intimate, it's just us really, a judge and two witnesses who are the judge's staff. We could have gone without any witness at all but since it's required to have them, we decided to get the people there instead of having any of our family members to limit the contact with other people. Moreover, this ensures that no one would feel left out because.. everyone is.  + Hol up, let's start from the beginning + Prior to the event I was contemplating whether I should get someone to do my makeup and hair but then Reagan have an excellent point, Since I'm wearing a mask, there's no need to spend money over something no one would see. Which is why I had to wake up extremely early to DIY myself: have my hair curled and have my face with the most minimum thing I (think I) can do. I bar

T&J Weds: Getting a License at the Mandaluyong City Hall during the Pandemic (2021)

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As of writing, our application for a license is now on the way. We were able to do everything in one day with not much hassle but it took some hours to finish since we started the process. It's a bit different than before but man, I love that we didn't have to take a leave on another day (other than getting the license obviously).  Requirements 1. CENOMAR -PSA copy, 210 PHP at SM Business Center; will take almost 2 weeks 2. Birth Certificate - PS copy, 155 PHP at SM Business Center; will take a week 3. Government IDs with Mandaluyong address. Old bills, minimum 6 months prior can be submitted as well in lieu. I prepared 3 bills for this, Meralco, Globe and Assoc Dues and the processor only got the Meralco one (photocopy). I don't have IDs with Mandaluyong address but bothered to photocopy my other government IDs bearing our Cavite address and my condo's IDs but those weren't accepted.  4. Application Form - submitted and filled out in triplicate. 5. CEDULA - Can be

T&J Weds: Resumption of preps, almost a year later.

 I've written the other post last year in hopes that I would eventually get back to it soon. But July, our initial date came and went and nothing happened.  We were able to receive our rings by September IIRC, it was delivered to us with no fees and no hassle and it was exactly how we remembered seeing it on display back at the wedding fair.  By January 2021, still no hope that a mass gathering is feasible and we were forced to let go of our reservation at Oasis Manila, that's 65k non refundable deposit right there. I agree that it's serious money we had to let go but I thought that better lose 65k NOW than lose more (since they're already asking for more money) and only have a few people attend. At this point I'm not really keen in inviting anyone to share the same air in a closed space for 3 hours. My conscience would not allow it. Even though they're saying that we can still invite 100 guests out of 200 initial plan, I still don't find the deal worth it.

T&J Weds: The First Month, the Pandemic and what else?

So.. we’re getting married! No, I didn’t get any proposal of any kind, we just talked about it and headed to look for churches one Saturday. We’re looking for somewhere in the north, and since I am not the Catholic, I don’t have much requests other than the ff: 1. Ample Parking 2. Decent interior 3. Accepts mixed marriages I would love to present this as a per church thing but I think it’s best to present it by how it all happened because this spanned a few weeks. + It all started on January 11 +  So first we went to The Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Cubao . It was huge and looks so clean. They were able to accommodate us at 1pm. Their price is around 30k++. One huge advantage of this church is that it is right in front the chancery that handles everything related to mixed marriages and foreign partners. What I didn’t like though is how they don’t have proper parking. Like your visitors would each have to find any spot possible around the church. Our second s

The Hobbyt: Cross Stitch

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  Cross stitch is probably the very first hobby I got myself into. I still have a few pieces at our home in Cavite where my works are still displayed. Due to COVID I found myself looking for hobbies to do and here I am getting back to the original hobby I loved. What do you know? I didn't have problems getting back to it at all! If you find yourself trying out cross stitch as well. don't worry I can help you with that. This is your ultimate guide! PREP YOUR TOOLS Unlike most hobbies, you can get by with barely any tools. Usually the kits that you buy already include the pattern, advised aida cloth and the numerous threads that you will need. VERY IMPORTANT TOOLS: 1. Needles The only needles you need are the ones that have the large holes and dulled tip. You may use the normal needles but the stabby part would hurt your fingers, and it's not needed since the cloth you use are already dotted with holes. Prepare a lot of needles. I bought 6. You'll never know when you will