Sunday, March 31, 2013

First Year Anniversary

December 30, 2013 marks our 1st year anniversary. You see, having an anniversary right in the middle of Christmas week has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is the festivity. Almost everyday, friends and relatives gather together to eat and just be merry. One major disadvantage is money.. or the lack of it, that is. Gift-giving, although as happy as it sounds, takes its toll on our wallets. An out of town anniversary celebration versus monetary gifts to parents, choose your poison. I will always choose the latter of course. So yeah, having admitted that, we didn't have any big plans for our it, except that we'll dine out on a normal restaurant like any of our anniversaries as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Few days ago was the wedding of my brother. After Christmas, he and his wife flew to Davao to have their honeymoon in the gorgeous Pearl Farm Resort. They were only able to book one night since it was a peak season. The next night was spent in another resort on Samal island - Hof Gorei. Sadly it fell short, very short, from their expectation so they decided to re-book their tickets in advance and have an early flight back home.

Having their honeymoon cut short, both of them felt a little down. They wanted a quick fix so they went to us and asked us to join them. They wanna shoulder most of the expenses as their gift for our anniversary. Heart-melting!

No place will ever beat Baguio in our top list when it comes to sentimental value. Me and my husband lived there for quite some time and we have created so many memories in it. Baguio it is! 5 hours after that decision, we found ourselves already inside a northbound bus, yay! Sometimes, spur of the moment decisions are the best ones!

Upon reaching Baguio, we had our quick lunch on one of Burnham Park's series of ihawans. I had the best papaitan ever! After We went to the Tiongsan grocery and the palengke to buy our food supply. While carrying several heavy bags of food, we walked towards the jeepney station that are bound to the hot springs. After some twists and turns, we reached our first destination, the Riverview Resort. It was a little exhausting but it's nothing that a relaxing swim won't cure. 

I've been dreaming of going back to Sagada for our anniversary because I thought waking up and seeing pine trees on the windows will be really mushy. I dropped that idea because of, as I said earlier, Christmas expenses. As I woke up the at our exact wedding anniversary, I was in complete awe. A pine tree right in front of our bedroom window:


This is God reordering the universe to fulfill even the pettiest of my dreams.
As the name of the resort implies: River View
We spent the vacation, eating, swimming, laughing and drinking. We had very few photos but here are some:





Cascade of pools

Me and my ate and behind us is the olympic-size pool
Palm Grove's Entrance
Next morning, we transferred to the nearby resort to try their famous hot bath. Again, no photo but let me describe it to you. They were tiny rooms with pools which will be filled with not warm, but hot water. You will then let your body adjust to the temperature by slowly submerging it using the steps of the pool. Tiny room, hot water and steamy air... perfect combination for a panic attack, lol. I'm not claustrophobic but it felt weird that I had to open the door and stick out my head for few minutes to breath. The moment my body and brain started adjusting, everything felt magnificent. It was a total relaxation. 

That same day, afternoon, we headed back to Baguio to have our lunch and buy some pasalubong. Oh Baguio and your cheap vegetables, I'll never get tired of you! 

We were about to get home when I had this epiphany -- It was 3pm, it was exactly our anniversary as our church ceremony also started at 3pm and I was in the middle of Session Road - a road with a huge significance in our relationship. At that moment, busy people turned into a blur. It was just me, my husband, that road and the smile on my face.

Gosh, I've held up this post for so long and now I'm scouring the net for some infos about the rates and fees. I feel so clueless now. Forgive my lack of sense of direction and my poor instinct of remembering amounts. I don't want to compromise my integrity so let's just leave this as a personal entry without any useful information whatsoever but a giddy little anniversary post.