21st: New Chapter, New Beginnings

HOORAY for NEW BEGINNINGS!

We love new beginnings! That is basically the reason why the theme of our wedding was Romantic Spring...to emphasize that beginnings are happy, positive and beautiful.

On our 21st month as husband and wife, we start another chapter of our lives in our first home. So instead of having our usual dine out at a restaurant, I decided to prepare a simple dinner at home last night.

Our first photograph inside our home

I cooked Barbequed Chops for Dinner

While the Husband brought Siomai as Pasalubong

We just had a quiet and relaxing dinner. Since I wasn't feeling well, Husband took care of cleaning up and washing of dishes.

Now that we are by our lonesome, we are discovering more of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Before we moved, I actually thought that we'd see the worst of each other since it's going to be just the two of us now, however, I believe that the move has brought out the best in each of us instead. So it's all good and happy.

Pharyngitis

...was the verdict of the doctor today. Other than my runny nose and fever, that is.

I was advised to take one more day off work. Great! Just when I have lots of things to do because last week I only went to work for 2 and 1/2 days.

But I figured to just take it instead of trying too hard to be well tomorrow. I remember not taking sick leave when I was in Manila and I know that caused burn-out and I'm not doing that again here.

Once in a while, I still have to remind myself that I live in a different country now.

The Weekend That Was

Sa totoo lang, weekend mode pa rin ako.

I'm here at home...and sick with fever, runny nose and sore throat. I believe the stress of moving has taken a toll on me so here I am, alone in our apartment having my nido soup for lunch.

With all the moving and getting the unit all cozied up, we managed to attend the Night Noodle Festival on Thursday night where I got exposed to a chilly breeze. I think that's when it all started. When we got home on Thursday night, I had a runny nose then.

Friday night, we attended a kapamilya's debut. Other than attending the party, Chris and I were the photographers for the event. We had fun and enjoyed the shoot and the partying with our relatives, however, we were so stressed that night. With moving and going to work (Chris came straight from work to the party while I took the day off because the fridge was delivered and I did laundry). Grabe! I've never felt so tired in a long time. Chris was the main photographer and for the first time, he left me on my own that night, as in he took a break outside the venue. Mygosh talaga.

On Friday I realized how hard it is to wear a dress now when going to parties. Nababawasan ako ng feminine factor dahil hindi na ako makapag-dress dahil photographer ako hehe. I was part of the 18 candles and decided to wear a dress BUT two hours before the event, I had to change to a pair of slacks. When going to parties before, all I ever get ready was my make-up, and hair, what outfit, bag and perfume to wear---puro kakikayan. Ngayon, when going to parties, inuuna ko muna mag-charge ng batteries, mag-impake ng tripod, flash, diffuser AT hindi na ako makapagsuot ng evening bag.

Oh well, it's ALL worth it. Iba pa rin ang fulfillment ng photography lalo na kung ang mga taong kinukuhanan mo ay sobrang sumaya ng dahil sa mga litrato mo.

Saturday was shopping day again. We bought groceries (kasi may fridge na kami!!! hehe) and other stuff like electric fan, sampayan, new placemats (I can never have too many placemats haha). Our unit is starting to feel like home now. The kitchen is the most setted up area in our place coz I made sure that almost all we need are bought beforehand. For dinner, we were finally able to use real plates!!! I finally got to unpack our Corelle box.

Yesterday, we stayed home, did cleaning and some sorting out of stuff. I started unpacking the luggages that holds our clothes. The goal for the day was to at least unpack two luggages. The plumber also dropped by to do some repairs. Last night, we were finally able to eat at a decent time (7:00pm) and slept at a decent hour (about 10:00pm). It was also last night that my fever gone up so no work for me today. And later this afternoon, I will be going to the doctor.

What about you? How was your weekend?

Our Move Journal

Tuesday, 8 October 2008

Informed by agent that we got the unit we applied for. Left the office early so I can pay the reservation fee.

Thursday, 9 October 2008

Agent told us that we can have the signing of lease the following Monday.

Saturday, 11 October 2008

Shopped for cleaning materials and stuff we need for the move.

Sunday, 12 October

All day packing of at least 85% of our stuff. Ready for moving on Wednesday.

Monday, 13 October

(1) Finalized arrangement with a removalist company.

(2) Signing of lease at 4:30pm. Got the keys. Waited for Chris at Dolce, had to reward myself with Iced Coffee (hehe). When husband arrived, we bought pork buns and dim sums then walked straight to our apartment. Had dinner on the floor which I found very peaceful because we were watched the sunset via our verandah while eating. Cleaned kitchen and toilet and administered Do-it-yourself pest control before we left our unit.

Now for some photos....

Presenting our very bare 2-bedroom unit on the 3rd floor a building....

We arrived at the unit in time for sunset so it was such a lovely welcome.

We had dinner on the floor...siopao and siomai. :)

My mom advised me to bring our little Poon, rice and sugar. It's probably for good luck so I followed what she told me.

My little but powerful helpers.

Before we move in, we want to make sure that the kitchen and toilets are clean so we brought a multi-surface spray and degreaser. We also want to somehow eliminate the cockroaches and insects' eggs so we brought and administered the Do-It-Yourself Pest Control kit.

Wednesday, 15 October

The BIG move! =)

10:00am pic-up of mattress at Hilda's place. Before 11:00am we were at Woodcroft already. Putting stuff in the truck took less than 30 minutes. Arrived at our unit at 11:30am. Took about 45 minutes to bring everything in from the truck to our unit. Moving was over by 12:30pm.

Our removalist's truck. I had the experience of riding on the front of this truck, scary but fun.

Chris arrived from RTA and Westpoint a little after 1:00pm with KFC in tow for our lunch. After lunch, we made our way to Bing Lee: bought a refrigerator, vacuum and iron. From there, we went to Westpoint: bought house stuff like Brita, ironing board, garbage cans, placemats and food that I will cook for dinner.

This was how our home looked like when we arrived from the shops. Luggages, boxes and plastic bags lying everywhere.

On the first night in our unit, I started working on the kitchen while the husband worked on our room. The goal is to have both areas somehow functionable, being that we need to eat and sleep.

Tired and busy but I tried to make the unit a home by cooking dinner. I cooked Adobo becuase it is the easiest ulam to cook. We still ate dinner on the floor...the dining table hasn't been set up by the time the Adobo was cooked. We had plates made of hard plastic so we used that instead of Corelle as I didn't have time to open boxes yet. I had the Tefal pots and pans, cutleries, knives, etc. setted up first.

Our first visitors were our Grandma and the Balilos. They came in around 8:00pm.

We ended the sorting, cleaning and vacuuming by 10:00pm. We realized it was late already and our neighbors might complain due to the noise the vacuum made.

It was a good day. We were blessed with a good weather (cloudy but the important thing was it didn't rain) and helpful removalists. Moving was a scary thing, was worried that things may turn out wrong or something, but we're relieved everything fell into place and we're just happy we have our own place now.

Back story:

It took us almost three months to find a unit that we like. Looked at options in Parramatta, Surry Hills, and Ashfield--but Blacktown won our hearts. Chased up Real Estate Agents who never call back. Gone thru cancelled ocular inspections, applications that did not go thru due to suddenly being sold or leased.

After all we've been thru, we are so relieved that we found our first love nest. It was worth all the trouble.