New Work

Towards the end of 2012, I mentioned that I was going to try something new.  What is it, you ask? I moved to a new "second home".  It's still in the line of HR, in the beauty industry (more high end!), but this time not in manufacturing but rather, in distribution.

It was very difficult for me to leave because I love the people I used to work with.  They are a lot of fun and I have truly learned a lot from them.  That's where I first had a taste of this profession which I truly have the passion for.  It's with that company for women that I have experienced how to sincerely serve, to be fair, to manage events, to coach and train and motivate... there's just so much I learned! I must make a separate post on this one of these days.

If you're wondering why the move, well let's just say I let God fully take over my career and the opportunity's timing couldn't be better.  It came when I was at the peak of some doubts.  It took me a few sleepless nights to decide as I was already in my comfort zone (six years in my previous company wasn't a short period) and the work location does not agree with how I would've wanted it (it's in Manila, about 90km away from my little dude!) but I prayed hard for God to guide me and well, this is where He took me.

Although I'm still trying to get the hang of my new environment, there are a couple of things that I've been liking since I moved:

1. Access to events I've always wanted to go to but was constrained to do so because I was based far south and I did not have connections.

ManilaFAME!  I used to only read this from blogs!

Posh product launches

2. Convenience of city living made quick trips to the grocery, bookstores, salons, banks, etc. easy peasy.  Everything is about a 5-minute walking distance to my office.  There's a BPI just on the ground floor of our building, S&R is just a few blocks away, and High Street is within a stone's throw away.  Heck, if I didn't have anything to wear for an event a day before I needed it, I could just cross the street to Mango or Cotton on and I'm good!  Now, the tricky part is how to control shopping urges.  Hihi.

Got to experience the great S&R sale for the first time!

3. Also because of number 2, impromptu meet-ups with old friends is more likely.  Because almost all my friends live or work within the area, having lunch with them just needed a text and a quick check at my meeting calendar.

With college buddy, Omar, at Kitchen's Best

IE friends, Lei and Pao, at Slice

4. The pressure to be pretty.  For the past decade, I've been ignoring my appearance and my old kikay self took a backseat.  Having been exposed to the manufacturing environment where the no makeup look is a norm, I have forgotten how to blush my cheeks or put on a little color to my lips.  Add to that, my fashion sense needed attention since my wardrobe was predominantly jeans, polo shirts, or shirt jackets.  With my new job, however, everyone is really conscious of their get-up and coming into the office that seemed like a model's runway everyday, naturally, I have to cope!  I am proud to say that I've been buying a lot of dresses, blouses, and high heels lately.  I also have a one-on-one basic make-up application refresher course lined up. Hahaha!

Sample peg.  HMU c/o my lovely officemates.

5. The most important change that I am enjoying now is precious time with Jax.  Because we now carpool, we have at least two hours each day (one hour each going to and from work) to talk about our schedules, aligning our plans for the future, how to discipline our little dude, growing our finances, etc.  I love how we have created another communication venue for us that allows us to bond and (believe it or not) get to know each other even more.  During the first weeks, I felt like I was a new girlfriend again being picked up from the office by my boyfriend!

Like I said, this is all taking a bit of getting used to, but aside from the challenge of having to force hubster to pick me up by 6pm so we can come home to Marcus in time for dinner, I think I'm pretty much fine.

Coming Soon

Sometimes there comes a point in your life when you know you've just had enough and that it's time to move on.  That just happened to me lately.  The past month was actually a roller coaster ride of emotions.  I prayed hard for SOMETHING to happen and God answered my prayer - again, during the most unexpected time. 

And so, yes, I am going to try something new.  It's a little scary but I fully trust Him when I surrendered my wants to let Him take over.  Thank you, Lord, for taking the lead on this one.  I think I AM now ready for new.

Quick Inspiration

One of my good friends here in the office recently left for another company.  He sent me a short note on his last day and I couldn't help but smile when I read it.

just wanna express my gratitude for being such a miss insightful! i envy you because you cant help but be so nice all the time. you are such a good-find-of-a-friend, im so blessed. carry on and take heed of your aspirations. i know that somewhere out there, opportunity beckons.

It's really nice to hear (good) feedback on how you are viewed by others and how they genuinely wish nothing but the best for you.  Sigh.  This made me feel pleased with myself for a moment there.  I must be doing something good out of my life!  Recently, however, I feel like I want so much more, particularly to enrich my family life and my womanhood.  I hope and pray that God leads me to the discovery of my ultimate purpose soon.

Random Blabbing/Stressing

It's the first day of the workweek and already I feel tired. Sigh.  There's so much to do in the office but I also have personal stuff lined up this week!

1. First, it's hubby's birthday on Wednesday.  He just told me yesterday that he wanted to bring homemade burritos at work, which means I have to spare some time to cook (pressure!!!) tonight. I'm not an expert at these things so I totally have to make sure I don't do anything to jeopardize my husband's career. Lol!
2. I have a training program to run tomorrow, and everytime I have such, I stress about it and study my deck over and over.  
3. I still do not have a gift for my birthday boy!  I have lists in my head but I never really got to buying them because (1) I can't seem to buy the right sizes, (2) Jax is such a picky gift recipient (rolling eyes), and (3) I just didn't have the time.
4. Have to do some research about a project hubby and I are trying to get our noses into.

Well.. well.. hope to get all the energy I need.  Have a great week ahead, everyone!

Now, let's go make these things happen.. in 4...3...2...1... baboosh! :)

What Made Me Teary-Eyed Today

As I mentioned in my previous post, I love baking.  I've started making my pastry experiments a few months ago.  So far, I've tried making butter cookies, banana cake, chocolate cupcakes, bibingka, and chocolate crinkles.  They weren't all you-can-start-your-bakeshop-business perfect but (in all fairness to me - haha!) they weren't downright disastrous either. ;)

This morning, I was surprised by an email from Jax, who forwarded me this email with a message that said "Pearl, I think you would like this?"

I naturally felt a little excited.  This is what I need to finally perfect my goodies!  However, (typical of me) I told hubby I wasn't comfortable to shell out this amount for  a baking class, to which he replied with:


This is my way of supporting you on what you want to do. I see you baking on our little oven toaster. I like that attitude, you are really trying to show your enthusiasm despite the lack of tools and it has been consistent for quite some time now. (yes, I do notice it)

6K is cheap compared to my hobby. :) just enjoy what im offering.

If you pursue this, who knows maybe next time you get some hardware too :D

Aaaaaw.  Excuse me, this is a rare senti moment for superwifey because of hubby.  I teared up upon reading this because I never really thought Jax actually thinks of the things I love to do.  He probably took pity on me for being a trying hard baker.  Hehe.

Love you, Jax! 

Somewhat a Birthday Post

While browsing through the sent folder in my Gmail account, I found this:

Had to edit out some information because I'm praning about being stalked. :|

It was a little surprise I made for the husband on his 26th birthday (we just got engaged then).   I didn't know what to give him and we didn't have money since everything went to our wedding fund so I created a "site" for him where his family and friends can just post greetings instead. 

Too bad the chat box containing all the birthday wishes is not working anymore though.  I remember there were quite a number of messages from his loved ones there.  Could've been a nice online keepsake.  Oh well.

Now Jax's 31st birthday is just a few months away and  I want to do something different for him this time.  Last year was supposed to be our "year of celebrations" - our little dude turned one and it was both our big 3-0.  Marcus had a party and so did I.  However, he refused to celebrate in whatever way.  I remember we just spent the day at the mall buying some clothes for him and stuff for the house.  Sigh.  Now thinking about it made me a little guilty for not pushing harder.

AJ's not really the let's-have-a-party type and his wish lists are always impractical or over-the-top expensive so it has always been a challenge to gift him with something he would actually enjoy.  I guess it's that time of the year again to get creative with what to do.  Any suggestions?

The Revival

For weeks I've been contemplating on whether to create a new blog or to keep this as is (well except that it would be updated more religiously).  I so wanted to go back to blogging and it's one of the things I promised I would do for 2012.

Finally, I decided to keep Superwifey because: 1. I couldn't think of a new domain name, and 2. I don't have the heart to throw away the few posts I had here, especially those about the time hubby and I were just starting out.  I figured I'll just update the look a bit. Thank God for blogger's background images, I found this cute it's-so-me template.  I cannot wait to have my laptop installed with Photoshop again so I could do more customized tweaks! :)

Anyhoo... I want to keep my profile write-up because it's a cute reminder of why I put up this blog in the first place.  However, it's not anymore a reflection of who I am now so I guess I really have to update.  Will just post the old write-up here before I delete and revise.  

I'm a newbie wife to my husband, AJ. We're both still trying to get the hang of this thing called married life but cherishing every moment of it.  It's amazing how there's always a new discovery about each other!  I'm keeping this blog mainly to document how we're starting out as a married couple.  I don't ever want to forget this HAPPY feeling so I thought it would be great to have this space to go back to someday. Oh and yeah, this is also where you'll probably see how the bratty drama queen is turning into a (trying hard) superwifey. ;)

I wonder how different I'd describe myself now...

My New Baby

It's been exactly 3 months and 22 days since I became Almay Viado-Lacambra. Honestly, it feels longer than that. There are so many changes happening in my life right now, both expected and unexpected, that sometimes it gets so overwhelming. Like I said, each day is an opportunity to discover something new about me and my husband - new quirks, new habits, new expectations... While there's so much to work on, more than anything, I would say we're making the most out of this period in our married life, the "just us" stage.

Why superwifey? One of my very good friends called me this while we were chatting a few days ago. I was complaining telling her how there's so much to do at home and I realized that yeah, I'm a trying hard super-wifey! Hahaha! I'm never the domesticated type so just imagine the major transition I had (am) to go through. The list of things to clean/cook/wash never seems to get short but I'm quite surprised at myself that I'm starting to actually enjoy it. Just last week, AJ and I had this conversation:

Almay: We never got to send out our (wedding) thank you cards, noh?
AJ: Cuz you're too lazy to do those na.
Almay: There's always so much household chores to do kasi.
AJ: I told you. We should get a maid.
Almay: Nah, it's ok. Happy naman akong pagsilbihan ka e.
AJ: Really? (and then he held my hand)

Just like that, and I understood he meant that he appreciates all that I do for him. What better motivation to be the best superwifey there is than to see your hubby happy?

There's just so much more to share about my life as a new spouse, so until I have a real, live, tiny human being crying out to squeeze milk out of my body, this blog is my new baby. ;)