Grande Island in 2011

Our company had the yearly summer getaway aka outing at Grande Island Resort in Subic, Zambales. As the name says, it is a resort in an island. You need to ride their ferry boat from the Subic Bay Freeport to reach Grande Island.

In 2007, we had our company outing here which we enjoyed. Most memorable for us was the food! Delicious selections in their buffet for lunch, dinner and breakfast. Those of us who went to Grande Island and who are still in the company rave about the resort's food.

Four years thus make a big difference to Grande Island. First thing we noticed is the time of the ferry ride. On our first getaway there, the ferry leaves the port before lunch, around 11am. After 30 minutes, you arrive at the resort and have lunch. Now, we were able to ride the ferry at 2pm! This left us a few hours of swimming before night time.

You can see that the resort has its share of wear and tear. Pathways have unruly grass sprouting here and there, the supposed wave pool remained a big hole collecting rain water which turned brown and the rooms are old. The floor has scratched tiles, the cabinet door in our room was unhinged.

But, nothing can dampen our spirits. We quickly changed to our swim wears and went to the beach and then the pool.

After swimming, we eagerly looked forward to dinner. It is buffet style beside the beach!

Horror of horrors! On the buffet table were four chafing dishes only -- rice, fish, chicken and pasta carbonara. There was also a bowl of chopped fruits (watermelon and pineapple). No barbecued pork and fish. No unlimited serving of iced tea. We went back to our rooms dejected of the dinner served to us.

Breakfast and lunch were the same affair as the dinner the night before. We were even served spaghetti during breakfast! Yep, that's the breakfast buffet.

As we were having breakfast, a server mentioned that there is an island called Chiquita Island near the resort which guests can go to. There was an early tour that day which we weren't able to join. During low tide, people can walk the man-made path to the Chiquita Island. But, during high tide, you have to swim back to the resort. The customer service personnel informed us that we can go to the back beach instead. The back beach has less stones compared to the beach we went to the day before.

We rode the resort's buggy (is that what it's called?) that took us to the Back beach.

Yes, the back beach is beautiful. The water is quiet and clean.

You can see Chiquita Island too.

We went back to the front beach to have our banana boat ride. Each guest has a banana boat coupon. As we waited our turn, some of my officemates decided to snorkel and float. I decided to come along. I'm afraid of deep waters, I need to be able to touch the bottom of the beach (or pool) for me to be confident that I won't drown. Even wearing a life vest doesn't comfort me. But this changed. My officemates convinced me to join them as they float away from the shore. They confessed they're not swimmers but all is OK since we're wearing life vests. After an hour of wading and floating and swimming (sort of), I felt confident! I'm not longing to touch the stony bottom of the beach! Yehey!

This confidence helped me enjoy our banana boat ride.



Grande Island Resort
Subic, Zambales
www.grandeislandresort.com

Holly's Harp

My officemate, G, invited my to watch a harpist perform at Mirriam College in Quezon City. She has tickets given by her sister and since her husband has to attend a Parents-Teacher Meeting, she asked me if I like that type of entertainment. I said YES!

The night is a fund-raising activity of the Philippine Leprosy Mission (PLM). PLM invited Holly Angel Paraiso, a professional harpist, to perform for the night. Ms. Paraiso is born in Hawaii and married a Filipino. They have four beautiful children (three were present during the show).

This is the first time I'm watching a harpist perform live and I'm excited. Cocktails were served before the performance.

Ms. Paraiso played Somewhere in Time, Beauty and the Beast, The Prayer, My Heart will Go On and a lot more.

During the 10-minute break we bought Ms. Paraiso's CD which she autographed after the show.

HOLLY ANGEL PARAISO
Harpist
Cel: 0918-261-2709
www.hollyparaiso.net
holly.paraiso@gmail.com

Follicle Monitoring 2

On cycle day 16 I returned to my OB for a follow-up TVS. On my previous follicle monitoring, I have a 1cm follicle in my left ovary. I prayed that this tiny blob will mature and become a healthy egg.

I was patient #12 and I knew Dra. Aguilar has alot of other patients who did follicle monitoring before me. As she did the TVS, she found out that there is "no dominant follicle", which means I did not ovulate. :( This is sad. I tried to compose myself and not blame myself for not ovulating even after 6 sessions of acupuncture.

News like this gives me the blues. I felt like I what I did a year before when we were having our fertility workup. After a series of medications and ultrasounds, I hoped that I'll get a positive end result which is conception. I am full of optimism and happiness that nothing could go wrong. But, after two cycles of workup, I still haven't conceived. It's anti-climactic. That is how I felt when Dra. said I didn't ovulate.

DIY Trail Mix

Summer is officially here. This means O-U-T-I-N-G-S!!! Family outing, company outing, barkada outing, graduation outing, despedida outing, any excuse just to have summer getaway will do.

Our company will be having our own outing too. Aside from thinking about what to pack, I'm faced with what snacks to bring. I'm trying to really lessen my junk food intake but the temptation of that salty bag of chips is just too much for me. I can live a week without junk food but come the weekend, my resolve to eating healthy vanishes. Having to go to an outing adds to the challenge of eating healthy!

Then I thought about bringing trail mix! Trail mix is a combination of nuts, seeds, choco chips (yes!) and dried fruits. To make my own, here's what I bought from the grocery: banana chips, Nips, raisins and unsalted peanuts.

The night before our outing, I will just combine all of these goodies in a plastic bag or container, shake it a little and viola! DIY trail mix!

Follicle Monitoring

Following my acupuncturist's recommendation, I went to my OB for a TVS (transvaginal sonogram). This is to see if 6 sessions of acupuncture were effective in making me ovulate. I have been charting my basal body temp (BBT) for three months now and I have noticed that my temp hike happens on cd20. Based on the book Taking Charge of your Fertility, a temp hike means ovulation. Which means I ovulate around cd19. Is this for real? I have to confirm with my OB.

I went to my OB before cycle day 14, though I wanted to go on cd16 since my BBT chart tells me I ovulate on cd19. But just to make sure I don't miss this elusive ovulation, I went on cd11. I'm excited going to my OB. I have a good feeling that my BBT chart is not lying. Though there is another side of my brain that tells me not to put my hopes up too high.

FM is for Follicle Monitoring I informed my OB that I have been having acupunture for some time now (I know I should've told her about it earlier). She says she has nothing against acupuncture. She told me that there were cases of women who had failed in IVF (in-vitro fertilization) but after having acupuncture, they were able to conceive. Godd news to hear!

As she inserted the ultrasound device in my you-know-what, the monitor showed that I have a 1.0cm (11mm) follicle in my left ovary. Hurray! I was so happy to see that tiny black blob in the monitor. Dra. Aguilar said it seems my ovulation is late. She told me that I needed to have a size 1.8cm (18mm) follicle and advised me to return on cd16.

God, please confirm my gut feel that I am really ovulating.

RIP Josefina Martinez

Yesterday, the mother of my bestfriend passed away. It ended her 8-month battle with cancer of the lungs.

May God embrace Inay Josie's soul and give comfort to the Martinez family during this time of grief.

The Millennium Trilogy

Whew! That's what I said after reading the last installment of the Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson. I've been reading this trilogy since January, as I aim to read one book a month, and I'm so exhilirated after finishing it.

The first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, introduces the main stars of the trilogy -- Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Salander is a hacker genius but a grave injustice was done to her when she was 12 while Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who was trapped in a libel conviction. A wealthy octogenarian hired Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger, over 40 years ago. He believes that Harriet is still alive, having received a framed flower for his birthdays, an act only she did before her disappearance. If Harriet has died, then someone in his family is making him crazy by making him believe that she is still alive.


In the second book, The Girl who Played with Fire, Blomkvist's company, Millenium, is working on an exposé about sex trafficking in Sweden. Before the book is published, the author and his girlfriend are brutally murdered and Salander's fingerprints are on the murder weapon. Now, Salander has to face her dark past in order to know who is/are behind these murders and the sex trafficking trade.


The last installment is The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The book starts with Salander having a bullet in her head and is in critical condition. If she recovers, she will face a trial for three murders. She now has to defend herself to a government which has done many injustices to her.




Before you embark on reading the trilogy, I suggest you learn some of terms used in Sweden such as kronnor and ore (currency), gaol, etc., brief yourself with the Swedish history in politics and familiarize yourself with Swedish names. This is the first book (or books) I've read in which the author is Swedish and the story is based in Sweden. At first, I was confused with some of the terms used that I consulted a dictionary. Sometimes I cannot determine the gender of a character based on the name(!).

Larsson has attention to details. He describes the surroundings, the things inside a room, the food eaten by the characters, etc. It's a bit tiring but you'll ge the hang of it. There are lots of characters in each book and he gives the background of each. Most of the time I forgot who this character is and what he has done that I told myself to write down the names of these characters and their description so I won't get confused.

Some may be shocked with the violence and sexual content of the trilogy that I'm thinking how this story will come to life in a movie (if permitted). But, that's not for me to explore, let the directors deal with it. :)

Will I recommend Larsson's trilogy? A definite yes. Though, this is not for the faint of heart.

Date A Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

If you're a bookworm and would love to read the rest of this article, then go to Ms. Urquico's site. We don't know each other but I share her sentiments.

She's Having a Baby

My officemate is having a baby. We're excited for her but she, not so much. She didn't expect a baby after years of living with her partner. They just adopted a baby boy last year and having a baby of their own was the farthest from their minds.

This unexpected news shows that God has plans for all of us. It makes me want to hope more, pray more and expect more from God.
She jested that maybe Hubby and I will take x years too to have a baby. I told her I hope it's sooner than what it took them.

Congratulations L and A!