Fainting Spells

Have you ever fainted in your life?

Prior to last Friday, I had never experienced it. I have had near blackouts because of dizzyness (I have vertigo), but have never really fallen down or anything like that.

I had the final fitting for my gown last Friday. It was a tad too tight for me because I had gained some weight since Danz arrived (so I'm on a bit of a diet now). Anyway, everything was going well - we were all laughing and sharing stories and just admiring the gown - until suddenly I felt that I couldn't breathe. I asked if we could unzip the gown for a while, and that helped for a bit...but then I started to feel dizzy. I had barely gotten the words "I'm feeling a bit dizzy" out of my mouth when I suddenly blacked out. I heard someone calling me, and when I opened my eyes, I was lying on the floor. It was soooo embarrassing!!!

After giving me some pillows to lie on, some ointment and a glass of water, I was OK. We had a pretty good laugh about it, but I know that I will never live that incident down. I'll always be "the bride that fainted"...hahaha!

I don't really know what caused it...perhaps a combination of not being able to breathe properly and just plain exhaustion from all the stress and late nights.

I'm going back on "The Abs Diet" for the next few days and will fit my gown again before they have it dry cleaned. I don't want to have it adjusted because it really is so pretty and I'm confident I can lose the excess weight. So I'm looking forward to eating grilled chicken sandwiches for the next week or so.:)

Engagement Photos with Mimi and Karl

A few days after our last trip to Tagaytay, we headed back there for our Pre-nup Pictorial with Mimi and Karl. For lack of a more imaginative place to have our photos taken, we settled on Tagaytay Highlands. (Note to Mimi & Karl couples: Highlands is the most popular choice of location for pre-nup shoots in Tagaytay. Apparently, M&K shot pre-nups there for three straight Tuesdays!)

I had my makeup done by Am Yap-Joco (who was kind enough to accomodate me with just a day's notice).

Anyway, I was pretty apprehensive about the shoot because I'm not good at posing or being in front of a camera for a long time. Plus, I have been in awe with the work of Mimi and Karl and I didn't want to let them down! Hehe.:) Here are some of the pictures I liked:

Video Shoot With Playback

Last Friday, we had a shoot for our Pre-nup AVP with Playback. We didn't want the usual interview-type AVP, so Bim and Chester came up with a movie trailer concept for us. (I'm really thankful that we scheduled the shoot on Friday, otherwise I could have been at Gloriettat that day!)

Anyway, our shoot lasted from 11am up to 9:30pm! Mostly, the shots were taken at our condo, so it was a bit cramped there and so we had to move the furniture and adjust the lighting every now and then.

Side Story: We wanted to shoot at a coffee shop, so we stopped by Seattle's Best at Harrison Plaza after lunch. We weren't sure if they would allow us to shoot, so we NICELY asked the barista for permission. He in turn asked their Manager, who promptly said "HINDI PUWEDE". I asked why they wouldn't allow us because it was just for personal use, and asked if I could speak to the manager. But before the barista could even call her, she loudly said through the door "HINDI TALAGA PUWEDE". How rude! And if that wasn't enough, while I was waiting for my coffee, she came out and was looking at Bim, Chester and Danz (who were outside waiting for me, but they weren't shooting yet), and saying "Sinabi ko nang hindi puwede eh". I coldly stated to her in a loud voice "They are just waiting for me" (I had to stop myself from saying "b - - - h"), though she was still staring at them to make sure that they weren't sneaking any shots. I would have understood if she had calmly spoken to me stating their reasons (I'm not the type to plead anyway), but to be treated like that was just plain rude and absolutely unnecessary. Before leaving, I commented to the baristas that their manager was "mataray" and they were actually really nice and said "We're really sorry ma'am". Needless to say, I'm never going back to that cafe....I'm more of a Starbucks girl anyway.

Anyway, going back to the topic...I really don't want to say too much about our AVP because I want it to be a surprise.:) But it was a fun experience, especially since Bim and Chester were cracking jokes during most of the shoot.

Here are some pictures during our shoot:

Would you have any guesses as to what we were doing in this shot?

Canonical Interview

One of the things that I was really anxious about doing was the canonical interview with a priest, even though we were reassured by other couples that it was nothing to worry about.

Last Thursday we headed to Tagaytay for our interview. While filling out the forms, there was a couple in front of us that was being interviewed by the assistant of the priest. I was listening carefully because it sounded like the assistant was "reviewing" them on church doctrine or something. At this point, I was starting to get nervous because I thought those were the kind of questions that the priest would ask us.

Fortunately, we were just asked to submit all our documents and fill out some forms and that was it. Plus the P1500 donation they were asking for (it's a good thing I already put this as part of our budget!).

So right now, I still don't know what happens at canonical interviews. Was that it?

Pre-Cana at SSJ

Danz arrived last Friday night after more than 24 hours of flying.:) We called it an early night because we were scheduled to attend the pre-cana seminar at Santuario de San Jose at 1pm the next day.

So we dragged ourselves to East Greenhills and sat for 4 hours listening to the Esposo's talk about the foundations for a good relationship (positive self-esteem, responsible sexuality and authentic love) and what to expect from marriage.

Overall, it was a good learning experience, even though Danz was dizzy from jetlag and I had a headache because it was so cold in the room.

The highlight of the day though was this:
Tita Gina: Define love....
Me: Ummmm.....hmmm.....uhhhhhh....
Tita Gina: Well, define either love or loving....
Me: Love....,hmmm.....Can I just think about it first?
Tita Gina: (Just staring at me)
Me: (Stammering).....Can you just get back to me?
Tita Gina: (To Danz) How about you...define love.

Seriously, I don't know how to define love. Heck, even if you give me the whole week to think about it, I still can't give a definition. I should have just said that I don't like defining love because doing so seems like setting up boundaries to it. Hahaha!