Beyond the big day, planning the aftermath

Whew! Did it! Changed my relationship status on FB (I hope B is happy now).

Today I have a lot of things on my mind, mainly my soon-to-be new home. When I left the house this morning, my bed was unmade and my dirty clothes were in the corner by the bathroom on the floor. I had breakfast by myself as the folks were still asleep. I was about to finish when my mom came down and sat with me before I had to leave for work.

To be fair, when I had a condo, I kept it spic and span. I'd clean the bathroom after taking a shower, sweep and sometimes even mop the floor after breakfast, washed my dishes, and returned all my things where they belonged. That's what not having a maid does to you.

Last Saturday, we selected the wallpaper for our soon-to-be bedroom. B wants to leave the decorating to me, even though he knows I'm no Martha Stewart-- my ideal house is an abandoned warehouse with all the furniture on wheels. But he is very much part of the design process because I consult him on my choices. Having an aesthetic eye is one of the things that make us click, and that makes him a very good working partner.

Want to see some ideas? Here you go...
I know that brown is a very dull, unimaginative color, but we have to work with the furniture we are inheriting. I'll just find a way to make it bright and airy. Like this:


A long time ago, I posted my dream home which is the beach house in the movie Something's Gotta Give. I'm still inspired by the bedroom of that house.

See the candles?

I wouldn't mind growing old looking like Dianne Keaton. Come to think of it, B sort of resembles Jack Nicholson. Short, stocky build. And arrogant. Haha.

Social network

Seems like everybody is either getting married or getting engaged. This means I'm really at that age. I sometimes wonder if I should be open to public announcements more. Nobody knew I got engaged until a few months later.

The reason I'm bringing this up is I have a friend from college who just got engaged today. He's a wedding photographer now engaged to his stylist girlfriend/collaborator. Being in that business, when they announced their engagement on Facebook, it's natural that they would get a flood of positive reactions, mostly from past client couples and other wedding industry colleagues.

If B and I made an announcement like that, I wonder what reactions I would get. Social networks can be intrusive this way. Supposedly, we have a choice on the information we want to share to some 600 or 800 friends. But when something important happens in our lives that involves another person, it seems that choice is taken away from us.

Social networking websites have made relationship announcements tricky. You can't even do it without establishing who goes first. This is something B and I don't see eye to eye on.

I admit that I'm not a very good social networking website user. In fact, with my personality of preferring to observe and keeping personal affairs personal, I shouldn't even be on Facebook. B likes to make things loud and clear for everyone. He is a fan of labels while I like ambiguity. But ironically, I like to share raw personal photos while he's the careful one to show pre-selected, composed image representations of his life.

B and I agree at least on what's a use and what's an abuse of websites like Facebook. A lot of people overshare on these social networking sites, which is why I've hidden more than a few people from my news feed. There's a difference between sharing (about an awesome alien-detecting watch purchase) and rambling nonsense (the shape of your hair when you woke up this morning). I see the point though on why people think it's necessary to make announcements on Facebook. When I see expressions of pleasure, approval, even glee over someone's happy occasion (as getting engaged, having a baby, parent getting cured, etc.), it indeed makes the event even more special.

Maybe that's it. Maybe we're all just trying to get noticed to be special. I like to keep my head down, but maybe it's not the case for B. Maybe B and I deserve the attention, just this time...

Hangover, the good kind

B wrote an entry on his blog about our engagement shoot. It's nice to read such thoughts I wouldn't have known otherwise...

Obviously, we both still have a hangover from the shoot. You can see a sneak preview of our beautiful location shoot in his blog. I have a province I often go home to so I'm very used to nature. He doesn't have one so that makes it extra special for him I guess. Oh plus there's a running river within the vicinity of that house. An actual river with a waterfall, and an entire rainforest beyond.

I'm happy to know that B enjoyed the shoot, maybe even more than I did. Most guys get awkward to have their pictures taken, especially doing romantic things. B was game the whole time, so I guess he thought our shots were cool. :)

No, this isn't the place. This was where we had a quiet Valentine's day breakfast this year, and it's just one of the reasons why our shoot's location is perfect.

B and I love secret places that usually involves long drives, mountains and lush greens and/or bodies of water. Every couple should do this once in a while. The calming beauty of nature makes the road ahead seem clear and obvious. By the time we need to home, we are inspired, refreshed and strengthened.

When you can't help being baduy

Just got home from my engagement shoot. Today was just amazing. But I can't believe it's over.

All my life I've snickered and jeered at the corny engagement pictures being shown in slideshow presentation during wedding programs. I always told myself mine will be better. Some time in the unforeseeable future, I'll have to do it, and it will be fabulous cos it will be cool.

I was wrong. Mine is just like all the others': equally baduy, nauseatingly cheesy, cringe-worthily cliche.

Click, click!

Look into the horizon...

Hold hands...

Hug her...

Give him a kiss...

Pretend I'm not here...

Click, click!

All poses of couples are the same. It's not because photographers are not original, or the couples are unimaginative. It's because engagement poses are not poses; they're expressions. And what are expressions but universal? I couldn't escape it. But I'm hoping that somehow, the resulting photographs would turn out looking cool. Despite the oozing cheesiness.

I still can't believe it's over. It feels like yesterday when I got the makeup artist, booked the photographer, scouted for a special location that would represent our type of relationship, and started planning the layouts with the outfits.

All my life I've wondered at this mysterious engagement shoot... How can a couple act naturally in front of a professional photographer? How can we make even our corniest moments somehow not uncool? What if I look fat??

The day it rolled around I was in a frenzy. I was nerve-wrecked, wondering how things will go. My biggest worry was ending up with awkward and unflattering photos because of not getting along with the photographer.

I worried so much that before I knew it, it was a wrap. That's it! That once in a lifetime engagement shoot, out of the window. The next thing to prepare for is the wedding day.

Like every important moment in our lives, it'll pass by quickly and I'm sure I'll have the same feeling I'm feeling now. Except it'll be more depressing.

I'll have to savor every second, every minute of that day-- that one day the limelight is mine, and I can shine all I want. The next day nobody will give a rat's ass anymore. I'm just another wife, who will soon be just another mother. In short, I'll be just another woman in the statistics.

So I'll smile for the camera, sure. I'll smile while my eyes are sparkling. May I remember every detail, every emotion I felt today, to give me still reasons to smile when the sparkle has faded.