Wedding Maddnes

What a crazy last few days it has been! More about it in detail later... just needed to get this out of my system so I can focus on work, or at least attempt to. 

This is what the last few days has looked like:

Friday: 

7:00 am - 5:30 pm  
Work

5:30 pm - 5:30 am 
Tessa's bachelorette party

Saturday:

7:00 am - 3:00 pm 
Work

3:00 pm - 9:00 pm 
Tessa's bridal shower

Sunday:

9:30 pm - 1:30 pm 
SLEEP (yes my friends.. i was dead asleep for 14 hours)

2:00 pm - 6:00 pm 
Errands for the upcoming weddings; check in at the Sofitel

6:00 pm - 10:00 pm    
Tessa's Despidida de Soltera & Rehearsal dinner; 

Monday:

7:00 am - 8:00 am 
Work

8:00 am - 9:30 am 
Sofitel breakfast buffet (had to make room for this. hehehe)

9:30 am - 3:00 pm  
Getting ready for Tessa's wedding

3:00 pm - 2:00 am 
Tessa & Phil wedding ceremony and reception

Tuesday:

4:00 am - 7:00 am      
Flight to Davao

7:30 am - 12:00 pm 
Check in and SLEEP

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm      
Catch boat to Pearl Farm

3:00 pm - 11:00 pm 
Joe & May Ann's wedding ceremony and reception

Wednesday:

12:00 am - 2:00 am    
SLEEP!

6:00 am - 9:30 am 
Catch flight back to Manila

10:00 am                      
Back at work

So here I am, back at work.. still a little drunk but happy from the love and excitement I witnessed over the last few days. Outside of the fuzzy warm feelings, I gotta say.. I'm exhausted! Trying to focus on the number of tasks that need to be accomplished for work really takes a gargantuan effort when your tired. 

The minute I arrived, I met with my boss to touch base on the things that needed to be done and surprised myself by still making sense - who knew I could switch from thinking about wedding gifts to the price of astroturf at the drop of a hat?!

I think the most stressful part of the last few days were the moments where I was physically in one place (at the bridal shower), but thinking/doing something else at the same time (coordinating for work). The most peaceful time was when I was by traveling to the wedding in Davao, particularly on the 45-min boat ride to and from Pearl Farm. It felt like the first time in a long time I had the opportunity to just sit and be with myself.. without thinking about everything else. 

Few more days and Christmas will be upon us. Almost there.. crawling to the finish line.. but almost there!

(photos c/o Rica Facundo)

(Diet) Blessings 121610

I've fought a long war with my weight. I've been at it again recently and so far, have a number of mini successes:

1. 11 pounds lost! 5 more pounds and i'll be at the weight I was before Tor's wedding. Speaking of Tor's wedding...

2. Fitting into an old dress! My maid of honor dress from Tor's wedding to be exact. Still breathing, no impersonations of a stuffed green suman and able to zip it up myself! 

3. Fitting into a new dress! A bridesmaid dress for a wedding next week to be exact. I took a big risk by giving measurements slightly smaller than I currently was at the time. Was worried I wouldn't be able to fit into it, so was quite anxious about the fitting. Thankfully, I did :) 

4. Fitting better into my clothes! Those who have been on a diet, understand this feeling. When your clothes hang on you better, when your muffin top is slightly smaller. Great feeling.

5. Real hunger vs. emotional hunger! I often still feel the urge to stuff my face with cake or cookies, but I've now experienced the difference between needing to nourish my body and fueling procrastination. Hoping to keep level headed enough to control control control.

6. Avoided (avoiding!) holiday temptation! Whether at holiday parties, at home (our house has become a 24/7 bakeshop) or at meetings wherein I'm placed inbetween two boxes of freshly baked donuts or chocnut cheesecake... opportunities to gorge on the yummiest of goodies has been plentiful. Definitely thought about cheating (SO.FREAKING.HARD)... but happy that I haven't given in.

7. Better moods! It's irritating when clothes don't fit you right, or when you diet and you don't see results. I'm extremely grateful that this hasn't been the case recently.

Hopefully this marks a great start to what I hope will be a continuous and final journey down this road. Go go go 2011!

Glorious Sunday

Today was the kind of Sunday I wish I could always have.

I woke up willingly at 9:30 am, very much well rested. It wasn't so early that I felt I was dragging myself out of bed, nor was it so late that I had felt I had no more time left in the day.

Outside of catchup paperwork and a couple of work related things I had to attend to, there were no meeting I had to run off to, rehearsals to attend or errands to get done.

I spent the day leisurely reading, napping, & working.

I had dinner with my entire family and attended mass with my mom & sister.

Nothing really out of the ordinary happened today, but because they are so rare, this glorious Sunday was extraordinary.

I don't even remember the last time I had a day like this. When I realized I didn't have rehearsals today I almost cried with joy. Sounds a little OA, but seriously true.

As I anticipate a busy week ahead, I am grateful for the opportunity to recharge and to just be still.

Here's to more frequent glorious Sundays in the near future!

Lessons from (lack of) Sleep

Another overwhelming stressful week has prompted me to look at what's not working in my life and a basic necessity that I've had a very complicated relationship with for a long long time: sleep 

Here are some of the lessons culled from experience: 

1. Your body wants what it wants - I got home from work past midnight a few days ago. With still a number of things to do, I decided to take a nap to combat my drowsiness - as who can think straight while drowsy right? Past experience has taught me that when I nap given this tired mental and physical state - I never end up getting up. Because I'm stubborn, I've tried different tactics to succeed in this area. That particular evening I tried sleeping on the floor, in hopes that I would be uncomfortable enough to wake up when my (several) alarm(s) go(es) off.  Pretty sad when I think about it in retrospect but totally necessary in my mind at the time. Did I succeed? Not at all. Here's a run down of all my other "wake-up-from-napping" tactics: 
• Setting my alarm clock. FAIL. It's difficult to wake up as it is when I intentionally got to sleep for the night.
• Having someone physically wake me or try calling me on my mobile. FAIL. I don't even remember the attempt of the wake up.
• Putting my alarm clock very far away from me so I'll get up. SEMI FAIL. This selectively works.. I think it depends on how tired I am. 
• Setting several alarm clock clocks spaced apart at 15 intervals. FAIL. HA!
• Setting my alarm clock and having the lights fully on so as not to fall into a deep sleep. FAIL. Double ha!
• Drinking coffee and/or soda before sleeping thinking it'll allow me a light sleep. See all above explanations.
2. No such thing as sleep compensation - 4 sleep one day, 2 hours another day, 3 hours the next day.. then when I get the opportunity to, I'll sleep in as much as I can when I can to compensate for little to no sleep the days before. This unfortunately only leads to more stress as I end up staying up late the next day compensating for work I could've done while I was asleep. So I'm tired all over again. It's a vicious cycle I tell you!
3. Running on no sleep? Think again - I am not Wonder Woman.. well rather, I am no longer 16 years old anymore. My mind may still think like a teenager in this regard, but my body is quick to slap me back into reality with a day of irritability, tiredness and sometimes, delirium.
4. Your body remembers - 5 years after college I ran a business with two friends where I was sleep deprived as well. The year after that was a lot more relaxed due to the freelance work I was doing so I regularly got 8 hours of sleep. Now that I'm back in a high-stress environment, I can't seem to find my way to running on little to no-sleep. It's like my body FINALLY got to experience life with enough hours of sleep and has since then, been refusing to have it any other way! Either that, or my age is starting to show. Hehe.

Because of so many years of unhealthy living, I made a choice last year that I would start living a healthier (and thus happier) life. Recently I haven't been keeping any of my promises. I lack sleep, I don't exercise, I hardly have time to myself to just sit and spend how I please. And I've been paying the price: I'm gaining weight, I'm tired all the time, I'm irritable, and unfocused.. all of which feed mental demons I've been fighting for a long time. 

While my current situation makes it near impossible to get 8-hours of sleep, I would like to think I can start making changes in the way I spend my waking hours and the number of commitments I have on my plate to hopefully clock in a steady and constant number hours of sleep and exercise daily. No more saying yes to anything and everything. If it makes any sense, I must learn to be more selfish, in order to be more selfless.