Continuation of our Ilocos Tour

Next stop we had was Paoay Church. We didn't bother going inside the church at all. We're not catholic but don't get me wrong. It's not we're not allowed but we just don't waste time as we have so many places to visit plus right after our tour in Laoag, we'll head to Pagudpud. It was scorching hot when we got there so as you notice, I had an umbrella with me during the picture taking. Haha! 

There were some souvenir shops around so we have decided to buy some stuff, something came from Laoag as it might be the last chance we got to buy. We decided to move on with our tour since the restaurant where we suppose to have our lunch was under renovation. 

We headed next to Sinking Bell Tower. From the name itself, it was said to be sinking over the years. You can even see the door halfway seen as some of it's parts has sunk. We had a hard time to take some photos of it with us since it was on a busy highway. Still, for the sake of our trip, we took photos. What was funny is that people were looking at us yet we don't care.. at all! Haha. 

Some part of the tower are under maintenance for it's restoration and to shower it's history moving forward. I remembered asking if there's a chance we can go up the tower but we were denied since the structure is no longer stable.

We had our lunch on a local restaurant or I would say Carinderia. It was suggested by Kuya Vincent, our driver/tourist guide.

Next on the list was the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. 

The view on top was absolutely breathe-taking. All you can hear was wind breeze. It was amazing how this light house was made. Though some of it's part lacks restoration, still you can see how it witnessed our very own history. 

I guess this entry got so long now. I'll leave with a wish of a happy weekend. 

xoxo

1st Month of Changes

Just like other women around, I didn't realize I was pregnant until 5 weeks later. I was not feeling anything different except with food cravings. I spent almost a week in my boyfriend's place where I always look for street food like kwek-kwek and banana con yelo for my afternoon snack. When their neighbor stopped selling them, I turned to Halo-halo since it was very humid back in March 2013. But the twist is that I only want to eat Halo-halo brought from Chowking.. nothing else!

When I went back home after the week stay with my boyfriend, I started asking my mom and my sister to either we'll buy Halo-halo from Chowking or we'll have our home made version of it. And so the last idea won. All of us didn't realize that I was craving for it since the weather was very, I mean seriously hot. It usually hit 35 to almost 40 degrees here in Manila everyday. I don't feel like moving around at all. 

I had cramps and breasts started to ache so I thought that I must be having my period. It passed 3 days from the time I supposed to have it but I missed so then I decided to get an over the counter pregnancy test and realized it was no longer a joke! I tried it twice to make sure and both gave a positive result. 

Due to un-explainable menstrual like cramps, I decided to visit an Ob-gyne here in SM Southmall Las Pinas. I met Doctor Dizon who confirmed that I am pregnant. She said that she would no longer ask me to have another pregnancy test done since both over-the-counter PT were accurate. She said that those requires a very high level of hCG to show a positive result. She mentioned that this hormone is produced if a person is pregnant and would often released in our blood stream. If the hormone was too high, it leaks out on our urine that's why the pregnancy tests that we can buy anywhere are often accurate. 

She prescribed Maxifol 5000 (a folic acid) which according to her, helps on the development of my growing fetus along with Duphaston (pampakapit for my cramps that's not normal). 

After 3 days of continuous medication, the cramps' gone and I was all fine. I felt a little bit secured for my baby. I kept talking to him and asked him to stay strong. As what other says, a pregnant woman is moody, which yeah, I definitely agree. Haha! You get too emotional for nothing. I know I have committed myself for something huge and a lifetime responsibility. I am indeed a grown up that's about to learn new things.

xoxo

A Little Life Inside Me

I know, I know.. I have not been able to put an entry at all for almost the entire year of 2013. Blame it to the changes in life I had. Well, I'll spill it. (Anyway, I've done that on the previous entry). I was actually 26 weeks pregnant. You're right! That was the main reason I failed to post anything in Lookbook nor here due to the fact that I was very very busy feeling every bits of changes that is happening everyday. From morning sickness to backaches and now, sleepless nights. Isn't it obvious I had the time to tell you about it tonight? :)

Well, just to share a short story, I met my boyfriend thru text messages. We had a common friend who introduced me on a group texting of sort. When I am going through the list of names, I have seen a name 'Earl' which caught my attention. I liked that name back then when I accidentally saw my boyfriend's name next to it - 'Daryl'. I found it interesting since I had a gay friend in high school and stupidly thought that it might be him. I sent him a text message and it took him 3 days to respond. We found out that we live in the same city and yeah, I was so familiar on the street where he actually lives. Haha! This is how our story started that lasted up to date. 

And now that we will be having a BABY BOY! You read it right! A boy.. I felt so happy and excited about him. He is definitely active inside me specially at night when I am about to sleep. (Early sleepless nights). He is now responding whenever I talk to him weather loudly or silently. I adore how he understand what I want. I often tell him to stay healthy, strong and be good. I am really into the point where I imagine him with us already. Feeding and talking to him while he smiles back and pretend he understands. I know it will be harder than what I am thinking now but I know I could learn from time to time. 

I need your prayers to make sure my baby will be healthy when I deliver him in 2 and a half months. I'll see you soon baby love! I'll surely share the changes I experienced during my first trimester in the coming days. 

xoxo

Day 2: Laoag Tour Part 1

We woke up early in the morning to make sure that we can catch up with the tour. Though it is a Do-it-yourself tour, we want to avoid the trouble of missing one spot. We checked out of our hotel at the same time. Places we dropped by for this day were along the way going to Pagudpud. 

The next thing we opt to go was a wonderful place called Paoay Sand dunes. This is where they said "Enteng  Kabisote" was shoot. The place was really nice. It was a local version of sand dunes in Dubai. We rent a 4x4 for P1,500 to bring us farther were we can see more of the sand and the ocean. Good thing it was not really sunny when we got there so we enjoyed taking pictures. The most unforgettable about it was when we have to take a downhill then increase the speed going up. It's more like a roller coaster really. Here are some photos: 

I really don't know why I did that pose on the last photo. Haha! Maybe I just really feel the place so wonderful plus the cloudy weather so sexy! You think so? No? Okay. :)

Right after Paoay Sand Dunes, we headed over to our next stop which was in Malacanang of the North. This was said to be where the Marcos' family lived during President Marcos' term. The place was so beautiful. You would imagine how rich they were. The view of Paoay lake from the palace was great. It was so peaceful. I envy Imee Marcos for having such pleasure while she was young. You can hear from kuya Vincent how thankful they were on what Marcos family have done to get their province a place to be.

I really don't want to make this post so lengthy like what I have done on my previous entry. I was actually trying to collate all the places we've gone through in Ilocos per-day-per-post. What I will be doing moving forward is to make it at least 2 or 3 places. I will try my very best to post all the backlogs I had from last year. I really hope so!

Honestly, what kept me very busy from the entire half of 2013 was that I am pregnant. Yehey! It serves an inspiration to continue this blog so that my child/children would be able to read through it and of course learn from it. I am now 26 weeks pregnant as of date. My back aches all the time specially if I am sitting down, standing or walking for too long just like now. (Poor me!) But I'll bear all that for you who's reading it.

Thank God it's Friday! :)

xoxo 

Day 2. Laoag to Vigan Tour

Just right after we visited Marcos Mausoleum and Juan Luna's place, we headed straight to Vigan which was about one to two hours of drive. I fell asleep almost the entire travel time to Vigan due to a sleepless night on the bus the other night. 

We dropped by to so many ancient houses and other places to visit here in Vigan. I'll make it short for you. 

Lunch at Grandpa's Inn - We suppose to be staying here instead on Balay da Blas in Laoag but during those time, grandpa's Inn was fully booked so since we got option either to stay overnight to Vigan or Laoag, we opted to stay in Laoag. So then just to experience the homey feeling of grandpa's inn, we had our first lunch in Vigan.

my sister and her kids

*pictures taken by my brother-in-law

Syquia Mansion - after lunch, we decided to continue our journey and stopped here. It was said to be where one of a renowned person of our history grew up (forgot who he was. Lol). The place was so huge. Of course some of the furniture were old enough to prove that it has witnessed a lot over centuries. There was this one tour guide/care taker of the house who told us a story about a vase and a huge mirror which was a karat gold. The vase was said to be given by a prince or a king of China. 

Crisologo Museum - here's another museum we dropped by. Nothing much I have seen except on a kalesa that you get into for picture taking (though it's about to break. Lol!), then the old concept of restroom where there were only holes then what you can see under was a pig pen. So basically, this is where your poops go, Lol!

Hidden Garden - This Hidden Garden was close to a pottery where we didn't bother going as we didn't think it was different with other pottery around. I have not been to any but I know how it looks like, I guess. Lol. Basically, Hidden Garden offers a place where it has a lot of plants being carved. My mom, as always was amazed on how they grew plants. It's definitely all over the place. It took us 15 to 30 minutes to roam around then off we go to our next stop.

Baluarte ni Chavit - We got here almost around 3 or 4 pm the same day. It was mainly a zoo where animals of different kind were free on a ranch-sort-of-place. We attended a free animal show. I guess kids enjoyed it a lot. There were some part though that was smelly but it was fine. There's also a butterfly sanctuary which I liked as I have not seen so many butterflies closer enough (acting as a kid here. Lol!).

Heritage Village - Since this place is much more appealing on sunset to night atmosphere, this was the last placed we dropped by. We took some photos and bought shirts and souvenirs as there were so many shops around. I almost feel like wearing a "saya" since the ambiance is so much like Spanish colony. Lol!

Unfortunately, we skipped Bantay Bell Tower as it was the first stop we had when we arrived in Vigan. It was scorching hot so we headed to granpa's inn right away (for lunch) hoping to get back just before the sunset but we failed. The tower can't be seen as there was no lights on top. 

It was another 2 hours to go back to our hotel. We had our dinner at Robinson's Mall. It was indeed a very tiring day but was all worth it.

I have so many stories that piled up as I have not been blogging anything for the last 3 months. Yay! Too long! :)

Xoxo,

Jen