Hooray! Our parking lot's lease was extended for a year! That means we don't have to buy a parking slot from our condominium developer :)

Kasi naman eh, we're living in a Pag-ibig funded condominium (read lower middle class development) and then the developer will sell a parking slot for Php475k? Hello! Reality check! Paging Joel "puppy" L! Please talk some sense to your bosses. Ktnxbye.

Now that that's out of the way, I suddenly find myself with an extra 12k every month. Looks like G and I will be going somewhere foreign for 2012 :) Yay!

I'm thinking of Japan or Taiwan...



2012 is starting out very, very well :)

There was a time when I would constantly dream of being anywhere but here. New Zealand? Game! New York? Game!

And I would pester G to go along with my dream and he would always put his foot down and quash that thought. Hmph.

Then I started working in the judiciary, while doing copy while doing product support while running my blog. In short, I was writing a good 90% of the time and the possibility of being self-employed seemed more doable than ever (although I still have my nerves to contend with before making that leap).

So last night, while my friend talked about the "5,000SGD starting pay for foreign lawyer support in Singapore", I didn't find myself daydreaming about hauling ass to Singapore pronto. And it took me a few minutes to realize the magnitude of that incident.

First off, I now know that making more money does not actually mean having more money because making more usually has the concomitant effect of WANTING more. I proved this when I entered the airline and experienced a 100% increase in take home pay, but did my bank account increase accordingly? Nope. But my credit card debts did:p

But more importantly, unlike before, I now know what I want, and that is to have full control of my time and to basically do what I'm doing now, minus the employment shtick. So yes, I want to be a SAHM with a home office and a crafts area. Ta-da!!

I guess I needed to see Agta from someone else's eyes to realize how special it is, because for the longest time, I just focused on the negatives like the blaring karaoke music and the concrete structure jutting from the rocks.

But as G and I rode the kayak and stared with amazement at the serene, glass-like surface disturbed only by a school of flying fishes, it suddenly dawned on me how beautiful my tatay's home is. That and how paddling a kayak is a great workout for my arms.

I hope they finally iron out who will manage the resort. Tatay already declared himself as the President/Dictator of all, so all we need now is someone to micro manage the resort. I admit that I had visions of myself as Merryl Streep in Mamma Mia, running a resort and having grand musical numbers in between folding sheets, and even G sometimes talks about what more could be done in Agta, but apparently running a resort is so much more difficult than Hotel Dash. So even if I rule in Hotel Dash, that's still not counted as experience.

Seriously though, I do hope they find someone competent to run Agta.

And now for more good news, I can pay my Pag-Ibig loan online! Hooray for Metrobank online banking! My outstanding balance stands at 719k and because I paid 5k extra on top of my monthly amortization, that extra goes directly to my outstanding balance. It's sad how almost 4 years of paying 5.6k monthly only reduced my debt by 31k. That's interest for you.

The goal now is to pay an additional 5k-10k per month and to pay off the entire loan in 5 years time, instead of 30 years. Crossing fingers and tightening belt.

Speaking of loans, we're finally buying a parking slot by next month for the back-breaking price of 475k! The payment scheme is 30% payable in 1 year (12k/mo), then for the balance I'm choosing between 16k/mo. for 2 years or 31k/mo for 1 year. The 16k is the more feasible plan for me at the moment, but since payment for the balance begins only after a year, I'm hoping that we'll have enough to manage the 31k/mo by 2013 because I'm trying to minimize interest payments.

And that's why we won't be able to join the Blockie Korea trip:p

Family photo (minus Drago) at the most photographed object in our house, the swing.

How cute is Killer?!

Dizizit! Werq it you guys!



More engagement photos here

Aside from making next month's kodigo, this is what kept me busy today.



Krissy's bouquet!



I'm actually not happy with how it turned out because instead of floral fabric wire, I used regular wire and so my hands are now aching from all the exertion and I even hit myself on the cheek with a wire (ouch).

I also think it's too simple for the church ceremony, so maybe it's something she can use for the evening, beach themed reception?

Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing it and I can't wait to do more crafts. I'm in love with the glue gun!

My next wedding assignment, find songs for the church ceremony.

Ok, off to bed I go. I'm hitching with tatay tomorrow so that means I have to be up by 5am.