Are You Ready for Valentine's

I just received an invitation from Max's to attend a Valentine's event they have for bloggers. I'm not sure if I'd be able to make it since I'll likely be busy running around Manila on Tuesday (we'll see). The invite triggered a funny memory though.

This time five years ago my now-ninang Janette gave me and Stephanie a public challenge. We had to find a date for Valentine's. Stephanie and I had a bet. The person who won't be able to find a date would have to treat the other to a trip to Boracay. We were both so busy back then (so what's new?), so we eventually both lost. But I think technically Honey owes me a trip to Boracay! Haha.

I mentioned though in my blog post on "Why I Didn't Have a Valentine" that I did have merienda with someone on Valentine's day. We both only realized it was Valentine's when Max's served us a small cake with a tiny heart on it. The person who I had an unofficial date with was... Sweetie! We were just friends back then and it never occurred to us that we'd eventually marry.

And, wow, it's been five years since that challenge to find a Valentine! I had given up on finding the right one a few months after that, but Sweetie came along just before my deadline. Had he not come along I'd probably have a doctorate by now. Haha. It's been a long journey for me, but the best thing I did was to just leave things to God's hands. well I did plead to Him on the way home from the US that my deadline was just 2 days away and I was giving up already. Sweetie proposed a few hours after I got home. Looking back I was pretty jetlagged back then, but that's another story.

More kakiligan...

When God Writes Your Love Story (part 1)
When God Writes Your Love Story (part 2)
The Perfect Proposal
The Wedding Day

Why I Didn't Have a Valentine

I lost the bet.

And good thing, she lost too!

So we’re going to Bora! Yipee!!!

I was still up working at past 12 in the morning on February 14 when a friend of mine buzzed in and greeted me a happy V-day. Happy-happy! Joy-joy! May bumati!

I had a hard time waking up in the morning since I slept at around 3 a.m. It was the incessant beeping of my phone alerting me for messages that actually woke me up. All of them were Valentine greetings.

I was happy and pleased with all the greetings, but I must have left the Valentine spirit in the hotel when I left for work. I guess all of us didn't have it on our minds. I was so harassed the whole day, I almost missed the plane coz I was still answering emails at the airport. When I got back home in Manila, I had to finalize things for my participation at the E-Services Philippines show and my printer even delivered my materials at midnight. I finished up at around 3 a.m. and completely forgot about V-day until Donald brought it up over lunch.

“How was your Valentine? Nakalabas ka ba?”

Oh great. I completely forgot about V-day and that I had a bet with Honey. And I lost.

So I gave Donald, Martin and Jill a huge smile and whined about why I didn’t have a Valentine.

Oh and for the record, I did get some offers, but I said I was going to be out of the country.

And the little cake with the heart on top? It's from Max's, the house that fried chicken built. I had it as dessert with a good friendly-friend. Order it, it's yummy.