Romans 5:1-5

5 1-2 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. 

3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Baby It's Cold Outside.. Is it?

That's my official xmas jam right thurr! Been playing 'Baby It's Cold Outside' in my head for 2 days now. Brrrr.

Hey Boyfriend!

The title is misleading, I know. Just to put everything on the table, no, I don't have a boyfriend, I'm single, unattached and I'm loving it (sometimes). This entry is for my former co-intern/girlfriend/tagatawasajokesko/my soul in other person's body/Danielle-fie. She's the only girl, no, person I know who documents her daily life using her iPhone and addressing those videos to her future boyfriend. She hasn't had a boyfriend since so, she'll show to her future boyfriend all of her "Hey Boyfriend!" videos when they meet. O di ba. Effort! During my internship, I got to be a part of most of Danielle's "Hey Boyfriend!" videos. And man, I looked so goofy and has no care in the world. Huhu ang panget ng image ko sa boyfriend ni Danielle. But I looked so happy naman, so her boyfriend would think that Danielle's fun to be with since her friend Rachel always look so happily awkweird (awkward + weird). She would start off her video with "Hey, boyfriend! I'm with Chelsy Welsy today and we're..." And there I go showing off my awesomeness! Danielle and I would normally sing our two favorite songs, 'Healing Song' from Tangled and 'Soft Kitty' from TBBT in her videos or dance randomly while in the ladies' room or showing off my weird furr top or just having yosi break (for the boys, I don't smoke). I just thought the idea of keeping videos of yourself and showing it to someone ishpeshol is really cool. In Danielle's case, it makes the anticipation for meeting her boyfriend more exciting! Kasi it would be like, omg finally, boyfriend, you're here! Here's a list of videos I kept all these years for youuuu! Hope you like it! Ummwahh! Haha cute di ba? And I've been watching a lot of vlogmas (vlogs before Christmas) lately and it's fun to watch how youtubers film themselves every minute of everyday. Anyway, all these nostalgic feels made me miss Danielle and her "Hey Boyfriend!" videos. So I watched them again! Teeeheee.

Here are screencaps of "Hey Boyfriend!" videos. :) Didn't post the ones I look eeeengkkk coz y'know, I have a reputation to maintain. Nyehehe

"Hi Danielle's boyfriend!"

Sang Soft Kitty for the first time with Danielle

"Here's nagpapanggap na nagtatrabaho Pierre"

"Huh? Walang intro?"

"..."

Hi Danielle! If you're reading this, just wanna let you know that I miss you so much! And you said it yourself ha, Chelsy Welsy is irreplaceable. Have fun on your 2nd internship! See you real soon! 

Happy 1st birthday, Frisky!

My baby's a year older now!!!! Time panned so fast. Now, I'm a Mom to a one-year old dog. Haaay, they grow up so fast. Anyhooo, I've never had an entry about my baby on this blog, so since this is his birthday, this is for you, lovey!

For starters, I used to hate dogs. More like, I fear dogs. I always find them as a beast that could eat me all up with their sharp dog teeth. I never find them cute or adorable in every way. I've had this fear since a dog bit me on my cousin's birthday party. I was petting him and touching his furry hair and the dog suddenly bit me on my right shoulder, since then, I've had a molten fury with dogs. My Mom and little brother always wanted a dog but since I hate dogs, they can't have what they want (coz I'm the boss haha). Until one night as my dormmates and I are having dinner, Martin, a guy who lives two doors away from our room, showed a photo of his puppies. And I thought aaaaawwwwww cuuuuuutie! They really are cute, and there's this one puppy who looks like Wako-wako. So cute! And I found out that he's selling those puppies, their shih-tzu pups, btw. Then I thought of my Mom wanting to have a dog, so I texted her if she still wants a dog. And of course she said yes. I told Martin that I'd get one of his puppies and he said he'll give it to me the week after. Dun dun dunnnn! I still fear dogs then. 

Friday. February 1. As I was getting prepped for my class, Martin knocked on my door carrying a dog cage. Uh oh. The puppy's here. What to do. He was in a hurry that day so he just dropped the puppy at our room. He told me to carry the puppy, I tried, and its body felt squishy and flimsy. I held him as I sat down on the floor and I just felt love at first sight. He was so cute and so lambing. Oh yea, it's a he. He rested his face on my lap when I put him down. Huhu. I can still remember that moment right there. And I completely forgot that I had to come to class. Was 40 mins. late for my Film App class, but oh well. My parents fetched me and named the puppy FRISKY while we're on the way home. 

I think of you while in class, baby

Since that day, my fear of dogs completely vanished. I'm always excited to come home because I know some cutie's waiting for me. And I never feel unloved whenever I see "cuddle weather" tweets on my thread because I have Frisky to cuddle with. After a long tiring day, the first thing that I do when I got home: I would pick him up, put him on my lap, pet him and sniff him all over. You can really tell that a dog's loves you the same way you love him. By the time Frisky got really sick, I was really really worried. He didn't eat for 4 days and he was puking non-stop. I thought he's going to die that time. I remember calling up my Mom to come home quickly because I thought Frisky's about to die. In class, all I could ever think of was him, if he's home from the vet and got better or he just died. Yea, I'm a pessimist like that. Gladly, he got better after a week and couldn't be happier. 

Haaay Frisky! You brought out the Mommy in me. Just know that I love you so much and you'll always always be my baby no matter how old you get. Now you're in your first year and that's like 7 years in dog years, I know you'll eventually have baby Friskys to another dog. Hmp! Stay malambing to me and masungit to others ha. Haha no. Stop scaring strangers na ha. Big boy ka na, act your age na. I know there's no way you can read this haha, but I just want to show the whole world how much I wuv you, baby ko! Happy happy birthday! Uhmmmmwaaaah!!!

"Frisky, I'm home!"

Sick for 4 days

I'm not in the mood, Mommy

Frisky checking me out on bed

Congratulations, graduates of 2013!

Sea sick

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRISKY!

It's Way Past My Bedtime

It's late. It's a Saturday. And only few minutes left before December! Yaaaaay! I always feel giddy whenever December's coming. Well, not because it's my birthmonth and I like the attention I'm getting, no, it's not that. I just feel like December's the most fun month among all the months there are. I know a lot of people would agree with me on this. Right? Right? 

I love how the weather's becoming more breezy and Christmas-y. It's a sweater weather, dudes and dudettes! I love seeing christmas lights and lanterns here and there. I remember when I was just a little Rachel, by the time when we still live in San Pedro, my Mom's friend would drive me around Calle Pogi where christmas lights will make you go "Oooooh! Wooooow!!!" I love hearing Christmas carols, only those that are sang beautifully ha. I love seeing puto bumbong and bibingka stalls. I love Christmas sales!!! I love the thought of simbang gabi, even if I'm not a catholic. I love seeing life-sized Santa Claus. I love it when people say "Uy, malapit na birthday mo ah", make me feel awww they remembered my birthday. I love Christmas break! Aaagh I love everything about December.

Me taking a break from pre-debut photoshoot last December

So I went over my 2012 planner and see what I did last December 2012. On December 1st, Saturday, I wrote that I woke up late, didn't do any of my homework and I just ate all day. Well, that was fun. Haha! But the day after that was the day for my last minute preparation for my 18th birthday. It was stressful but fun though. It was on December when I was contemplating on what topic to push through for my thesis. And it was on December when I made up my mind and take Public Relations as my elective for the following year. On December 13th, I wrote, "Sir APR inspired me to take PR as elective". And the highlight of my December was, of course, the day that I went to mushroom farm!! Yay! Fudge no. Haha! Tinatanong pa ba yan? My 18th birthday fartey! Ah yeah! All the stress from gown fitting (coz I'm getting fat), invitation changes, Booty Werrrk rehearsals, and all the party prep paid off! Felt so loved that day. Hihihi!

This 2013, I'll make sure my December will be legend-wait for it-merry! :)

Grand Prix's Grand Prize

"Pagod na ko."

I've been saying that countless times for the last 2 months, no make that 8 months. Been tired since I started my internship on April and I never really got a week vacation for myself. I was still finishing my internship when the classes resumed, so yea it sucks. And my subjects that term demanded most of my time so I rarely had time for myself. Just right before the term ends, a bittersweet news was before me... my team got to be a finalist for PRSP Grand Prix. 

My team and I practically worked our butts off for almost a month working on that campaign proposal and it got a lot of criticisms from a lot of people so we kind of lost our hope in making it to the finals. As we revised the paper, all we want is to just finish it and pass a decent paper to our professor. But on the last day of our PR class, it was beyond our (or at least my) expectation to see our campaign logo on the projection screen. WE MADE IT. Wow, just wow. I was smiling the entire time, but in the back of my mind I thought, "More sleepless nights and stressful days to come. UGGGH." Nonetheless, I'm just so proud of my team that we're able to make it among the 56 entries passed, we're one of the 8 finalists. And what made me more proud is that our batch made a history! Two entries from DLSU-D got in the finals! Holla! Haha yabang. 

Right after the thesis defense and revisions, we immediately went our way to prepping for our presentation for Grand Prix. And that could only mean one thing, no semestral break for us! Oh well, I didn't have summer break this year, I could go through life without savoring my last semestral break. Oh well. We meet almost everyday of the week during sembreak. Go on a meeting, brainstorming, memorize our lines, formulate message maps for Q&A, mock presentation for our mentor and coach, canvass for the perfect white suit, props-making, weird vocal exercises--that's how my sembreak went. Thus, fun and laughter are shared in between those. I must say, it was really fun working with my team. Oh, we call ourselves The Empire, by the way. Why? Dunno either. Oo nga, bakit nga Empire? Anyway, life isn't all beer and skittles. Yes, we may have got into the finals and we may have done fun stuff together, but we also went through a bumpy road. There were intense confrontations, grrrrrr moments, mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood, miss no way it's all good (charr), "I no longer want this" phase, "Rachel, late ka na naman" every meeting, almost quitter, lulubog-lilitaw teammate, "Ang pagiging nega ko ang magtatatag ng Empire" attitude, love life muna bago Grand Prix scenario, OJT muna bago Grand Prix scenario, "May sakit ako, kayo naman", "Hindi susunod ang mga tao dahil gusto mo lang", "Ano, magha-Harry Potter na lang tayo?", "May balak ka bang sagutin ang tawag namin?", and "Paos ka lang, may bronchitis ako." Obviously, we went through a lot! Empire, don't hate me for posting this. Teeeeheeee!

Joining Grand Prix isn't as easy as it looks. I had to deal with a different types of people, go on a 2-hour travel everyday, put that game face on and prove my worth to my teammates. I'm pretty honest that I'm in this half-heartedly, but for my team, I devote all my efforts and time into it. So when the judgment day came, I had no choice to back down. I just said to myself, even if we don't win this, I'll be forever grateful for the experience and friendship that I gained. If we win, that's just a bonus. Before going to stage, one of my teammates said "Empire, let's conquer the stage!" I tried to live up to what he said, I tried to deliver my lines in the best way I could. But as the presentation ended, the winning aura wasn't there. Why so? Well, as you figured, we didn't win. And I was frustrated for some reason, not entirely because we didn't win. I myself couldn't explain it as well. But when I got home and read text messages from my teammates, that's when I realized that hey, we didn't lose, in fact, we're winners ourselves.

"In a way, I had recognized and captured the real essence of victory in you! Love you so much!"

"Winning a competition is nothing compared to the friendship formed, hardships that are overcomed, endless laughter, heartwarming tears, warm hugs, ridiculous fights, inside jokes, sleepless nights, ugly eyebags and a lot lot more that we went through for almost 2 months and a half we've been together in preparation for this competition. For me, winning means not with plaques, prizes, or an iPad mini but with staying together as one team when everything else seems to fail. I love you guys!" 

"I had no idea that you were going to be a part of my dream as it came true. Thank you for conquering the UST's stage with me. Today meant a lot to me, thank you! Love y'all!" 

Victorious face. That's my grand prize right there ↑