Toots' 27th Birthday

We celebrated Toots' birthday at Claw Daddy in The Fort.

We had fun trying out Elaine's (Toots' girlfriend) G90 camera! It was so cool!

Faye & I being camera whores loved it! =) Check out the pictures!

This is our youngest brother Noel.

We're the "not so little anymore" kids in the family

Me and my two brothers

With my mom and brothers

Me and Alvin

Because of my fatness, we had to do so many takes to make me look thinner!

Elaine

Faye

While ordering, clients still keep on calling me (take note, it was a Sunday night!)

Faye again

Toots and Elaine

We are family =)

The Best of the Best Pictures

"Why can't we get all the people in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that would not work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.." -Snoopy

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The first ever flower boquet Alvin gave me =)

I learned the meaning of "unconditional love" when i had Havi

3 minutes before he asked me to be his (june 8, 2008)

The most unselfish birthday celebration i ever had

My crazy/beautiful mother

My "best tosser" volleyball award. I have waited for more than 10 years for this!

The best Papa in the entire world!

My Best Employee of the Year Award. Speechless!

My Ateneo Varsity Team.

The Ilocos Picture.

My Europe Trip

The Real Deal (reposted from my multiply blog)

"When i was little, i fell from a tree but before i did, i managed to hold on to a branch. I was up there for a long time waiting... The silence, the pain in my arms, the heat, my heartbeat pumping... Then finally I fell. I could not recall exactly what happened after i hit the ground... All i could remember was the agony of holding on... and the wonderful feeling of letting go..."

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I have deleted a five year contact person in my phone.... (no more waiting for a text message that never comes)


I have deleted a five year love from my friendster friends... (no more stalking)


I have cleaned my phone of the messages that made me question what I had with somebody special for so long... (I have forgiven but can never forget)


I have also removed a best friend, 1-bucketmate, Jumog-then-Marimar TVmate, out of town companion, fashion consultant client, shock absorber, bodyguard, shrink, videoke partner, driver, text quotes generator, shopping-mate and long time crush from my mobile phone and my future..


I have erased photos that showed happy memories then..


I have put all that I felt for the past two years in a box, sealed it and shoved it under my bed....

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Seriously, no hard feelings for anyone... this is just how i move on.. AND IT FEELS SO GOOD...

Reposted from http://fleur.multiply.com/journal

April 4, 2008

Lessons from Greys Anatomy (reposted from my multiply blog)

I have been watching Grey’s Anatomy the whole day. It’s a Saturday. I, Maria Fleurdeliz “Nana” Rubio, was at home the whole day of a Saturday watching the damn series. I, who would never go home early on weekdays, who’s always has plans on a Friday and who NEVER stays home on a weekend (not unless sick). I got hooked. I have neck and back cramps from lying down our living room sofa and my eyes are so strained from staring at our TV for more than 12 hours straight.

I wanted to stop. I really did. I was already palpitating which always happens when I stay home for a long period of time. But for some reasons I can’t. I was crying from one episode to another. I guess dito na papasok yung, misery loves company. Albeit puffy eyes, I continued because the things I learned from this series were somehow worth it and I wanna share it in this blog.

*As far as suffering is concerned, those who suffer the most are those who do not know what they want

*By the end of the day, what we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and not care about each other, that’s just a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to and once we have chosen those people, we tend to be close by. No matter how much we hurt them, the people who are still with you at the end of the day are those people worth keeping.

*Not everyone knows that the human eye has a blind spot. There is a part of the world that we are literally blind to. We just don’t know that this blind spot make us not see the things that we literally need not see. This blind spot usually makes us happy. Maybe it is just protecting us.

*It’s okay not to be fine sometimes. Some wounds run deeper than how we see them. They look worse than one you see by the naked eye and there are some that takes us by surprise. The trick with the wound is to dig down and find the source of the injury and when you find it, try like hell to heal the sucker.

*Most of the time, you need to go step by step. Most of the time we can’t tell what’s wrong with a person by just looking at them. They can look perfectly fine on the outside while inside, they are telling a different story.

*Sometimes, pain is there for a reason.

*We can try to let go of what was.

*Time waits for no one. All any of us wants is more time. Time to stand up, grow up or time to let go.

*Maybe we like the pain. Maybe because without it, we wouldn’t feel real. Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when it stops.

*The world is full of unexpected twist and turns. When you thought everything’s okay, the ground below you shifts and knocks you off your feet. If you’re lucky, you’d end up with a flesh wound. Something a band-aid can heal. But some wounds are deeper than they appear and require more than a quick fix. With some wounds, you have to rip off the band-aid to let them breathe and heal.

*We sometimes lie to ourselves because the truth freaking hurts.

*Sometimes, no matter how hard you love someone, you can never make them love you back the way that you want them to.

*Loving someone who doesn’t love you back is lonelier than being alone.


Reposted from http://fleur.multiply.com/journal
February 24, 2008

Tagaytay Pictures

~*~ Happenings ~*~

Its been a while since I posted something here... For easier storytelling, let me make my pictures do the talking hahahaha!

Here's one pic when I was doing Gen's Wedding.. Yeah, I'm back to the Wedding Coordination sideline =) The wedding was great and I was really touched by how Gen was hugging his groom after the "you may kiss the bride" part =)

Oh yes! I cut my hair short!!!! After seven years, I again have the little-girl-look! Hahaha! Who would guess that I'll be turning 28 this coming January huh?! Though the cut's nice, now I believe the saying "Never go to a salon on a depressing day!" Hahaha!

CONFESSIONS OF A DADDY’S GIRL

Everybody who knows me knows that I’m a certified Papa’s Girl. It’s a thin line between stuff like being a unica hija, a favorite daughter (as if there was a choice back then) and a spoiled brat. I enjoyed every minute of it and I still do. You can never be too old to be a papa’s girl, I always tell them. Ever since I was young, Papa calls me his Princess. Many people who hears about it find it sweet and for the record, I love hearing my dad call me that. It makes me feel special and really loved.

So back to my dad, I just want to declare that my dad’s the best father in the whole wide world. When we were kids, we would get all excited waiting for him to come home from work. He would bring “pasalubongs” like Nagaraya peanuts, those four flavors in one pack. We each (including Faye) would get one each. Faye would always get the natural flavor because she was too young to choose and I would always get the saltiest flavor. Sometimes he would bring us a pack of Rainbow Bright Gelatin which we would also divide equally among us. So we’d get like 4 pieces each. And on a very nice night, it would be Jollibee spaghetti for all of us.

Being the only girl, it is given that Papa would be very protective of me. But he never got to the point that he makes pakialam especially in my love life. He lets me learn my lesson on my own. Of course, there are these advices (solicited and not solicited) like I should never marry somebody I am not passionately in love with. And there are deadma moments to the guys he doesn’t like for me (actually, he only disliked one guy out of all of my then boyfriends). He just wants the best for me, I know. And I also know for fathers, there will be no perfect guy for their daughter. The first time I had my heart broken, I didn’t tell him. He might have noticed (well, me not eating and the puffy eyes might gave me away) because out of the blue he asked me if I wanted to go to Hong Kong for a weekend so that I could cheer up. I was too depressed so I said no but I’ll never forget that super sweet gesture. During one of our heart to heart talks, he told me he doesn’t worry about me when it comes to love and I shouldn’t worry too because if in case it wouldn’t work out with my man, he would always be there to take care of me.

He’s also really supportive of me even when we were kids. If he wasn’t working abroad, he would make sure that he would spend time with us. Papa would take us out to adventures. From the Laguna overnight outings to the “hiking-picnics” at the off limit parts near the airport (behind the wall of the Access Road in Moonwalk). He would be more lenient than Mama (who’s forever a worrywart) therefore we get to have more fun when we are with him.

Papa took us around the world when we were young. I hated leaving the country back then because it would mean less time for volleyball and my friends but now if only I could only turn back time, I would cherish every moment that we spent together. It’s not everyday you walk around Venice at 2am looking for a open hotel, or running after a train and getting stuck in between cabins in Italy or, having lunch with Mickey Mouse cookie dessert in Disneyland Paris. Well, we have more than dozens of pictures to relive those times. Papa is a photo enthusiast. When digital camera was not yet in before, he would carry around his old school “high tech” camera (with the famous tripod) and would force all three of us to pose (in line, side by side) in front of all the tourist spots. It was out of duty back then but when we got older, we laugh till our sides hurt whenever we see our dorky faces in those pictures and of course the pride that in such a young age, we have gone to places other people can just imagine.

My dad saw all of us through college. It wasn’t easy. We hit the lows when he was forced to retire from PAL. But we got through it. Again I am thankful for my dad.

One of my most treasured moments with my dad was when I went to spend more than 4 months in Amsterdam last 2004. That was the longest time I have spent with him since he went abroad to work. We made “chismisan” everyday, ate Chinese takeout food (neither of us cooks so we don’t have anything for dinner), went to parties, and took a walk in the beach at Den Haag. We learned new things about each other and he got to know the grown up me (with sayad of course hehe). I remembered him lecturing me about laundry coz after I washed my clothes it all turned pink. I got pissed also because I followed his instructions: separate the colored from the whites. Maybe he got angry because he would need to buy me new clothes ‘coz mine got ruined. Anyways, I was also so happy because it was the time when he actually watched me play volleyball. It was also there where I saw how he worked really hard for us. He leaves the office at the average 10pm almost everyday. I also saw that our kababayans there really respect him and have only good words for him. I am only too proud to be known to be his daughter.

Papa saw us through college. He worked very hard for us to have good, nay, excellent education while providing us with more than what he really needs to. He is a very patient man. He puts his children first before himself. He taught me to always be nice to people no matter their stature in life. He goes to church often and always tells us to pray. And aside from his smile, I think I inherited his Mr. Friendship attitude. With all these, I came into a conclusion that a man that would deserve me must measure up to the one man I look up to all my life… my Dad..