Passing of a Pet

A video posted by One Day, Kaye (@kaichypoo) on Aug 10, 2013 at 7:57pm PDT

You always stood out: from being the whitest in a litter of browns, to your peculiar personality of oral fixations and expressive faces. 

I will feel your loss the most in the everyday things. I'll crane my neck after parking the car, just to glimpse your form on the driveway; I'll think you're nearby when I hear the soft tapping of your nails on the ground. I'll miss you welcoming me home with a leaf, a bowl, or occasionally a t-shirt grabbed from the sampay. I'll hear you in every high-pitched whine, thinking you want to be let inside; and I'll never forget when you peed and trampled my plants for stealing my attention from you. I regret not ever having captured the affection you showed Bruce, with your vigorous and thorough licking despite his seemingly disdainful face.

I hope you know how much I love you, and how loved you made me feel with every soft nudge of your muzzle or every time you laid your paws on my hand. 

What a character. What a life. What a way to love.

Knowing that my own "one day" will inevitably come, you are my reminder to love without restraint every day. I wish you could #StayKani, but I'll see you on the rainbow bridge. 

Love and Brownies

February, by virtue of Valentine's Day on the 14th, has now become casually referred to as the month of love. I've never placed any specific importance on celebrating Valentine's, but I've never hated it either, even when I was single. I'd taken the opportunity to do little things for my family and friends, like writing them little notes or giving them small tokens. 

My boyfriend and I also celebrate our anniversary on this month, so we've been extra appreciative of one another these past few days. He gave me flowers and new charms for my Pandora bracelet, and I baked some Chocolate-Strawberry Truffle Brownies and prepared a strawberry-white wine sangria for the weekend.

Chocolate Brownies with Choco-Strawberry Cream Cheese Ganache. Recipe from Taste of Home. I love this because it has some of his favorites: coffee, strawberry; and some of mine: chocolate, pistachios.

I modified the recipe slightly by putting some slices of strawberry before the final layer of ganache, and topped it with roasted pistachios.

 

Sangria made from white wine and fresh strawberries; in a champagne flute because why not!

My initial, and his enabling of my cherry blossom obsession

Beautiful bouquet wrapped in pink and green (can anyone tell me what those long, pink flowers are?)

What's so interesting is, we were both subconsciously aware of each others' love language, and these were the best ways we thought we could make each other feel special. If you haven't heard of the 5 Love Languages yet, it's based on a book originally released in 1995 that talks about ways people receive and express love. The author, Gary Chapman, claims these love languages are gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch.

Brief descriptions of the Love Languages. This screenshot is how mine were ranked when I took the quiz on his website.

While I love the gifts themselves, I appreciate his acts of service of taking time out of his whole days at work (sometimes even 24 hours,) and how he knew what kind of flowers I'd find pretty, and what charm would be significant. My act of service was preparing food I know he loves (strawberries!) Both of us blocked off an entire day to just hang out, watch movies, and play with the dogs. 

I find these love languages to be helpful, not only with him, but with friends. It's nice to know what makes people feel valued, and on the flip side, good to be aware of what could damage a relationship if not nurtured. 

This month, I'm going to choose love every day, and hopefully it becomes a habit that I can keep up for the rest of the year. Happy Sunday!

A Part Apart

Getting tipsy at a wine fair, Christmases, graduation,
family trips, and the long-distance runs we joined last year

For the past weeks, since she'd finalised paperwork and itinerary, my sister has been out with friends having mini-despedidas for her #CountdownToSydney. The latter half of this week was spent at home, packing and arranging last minute details for her trip. During this time, I was priming myself for her departure, reminding myself that she'll be back sooner than I think. One year might seem irrelevant to some, but this is the longest I'll be apart from my "twin." While it may sound like a Sweet Valley High cliché, no one else can finish my sentences, understand a look, and know what to say when I'm sad as well as she can.

It'll be her first night in Sydney, and while it saddens me that I didn't get to watch Masterchef on her bed like we do on Sundays, and that Bruce came up and sniffed outside her bedroom door, I'm excited for her new adventure. I'm sure this short migration will change her in many ways (hello domestication,) but I hope she comes back as the sister I've always known her to be.

Family Friends

Is the concept of a "family friend" one of those Filipino-isms? I don't think I've ever heard any other nationality use this exact phrase as we do, oftentimes as modifiers instead of nouns. Others say, "she's a friend of the family," but we say, "she's a family friend." There is also a connotation that the relationship is much deeper than others: a family friend is someone you roll deep with, possibly spent endless summers with when you were younger; and no matter how far life has stretched your band of friendship, across years and miles, you just snap back together so easily and naturally. 

I have a small handful of family friends that fit that description, but one particular girl is top of mind when I think of someone who is not technically related to me (not neighbour, not carpool, but godsister -- a private joke of ours) but feels like family.

Ryan, my sister, and I had lunch with Lora and her husband for the first time since they got married and moved back to the Philippines. I had not spent more than our traditional New Year's Eves with them, and had only met Jason once before, but everything flowed like we had not aged or changed. Even if we all had aged and changed drastically. Nothing was taboo, as the conversation started off with religion, and we covered healthcare, education, parenting, travel, interspersed with very little gossip, over chicken wings, nachos, fries, and beers.

#BilangPilipino

We can still keep hoping, and working together, for a better Philippines. Praying for a wiser electorate this 2016, and a leader who will have the country's best interests as his/her top priority, and not selfish ambitions.

United for the flag Beautiful capture by @BilangPilipino on Twitter
Posted by The Ryan Cayabyab Singers on Tuesday, September 8, 2015

I felt privileged to have been part of the launch of #BilangPilipino this morning, TV5's media campaign that encourages awareness through high-tech and accurate coverage for better discernment. It's been a while, but I got choked up singing our arrangement of Bayan Ko and Impossible Dream. I love this country so much, I hate seeing it/us in self-destruction. Praying for bigger and better futures for us all!

Found this picture on Twitter from @BloggerManila
Posted by The Ryan Cayabyab Singers on Monday, September 7, 2015

It was also our first gig with Anthony :)