Extended Weekend

Nope, there wasn’t any holiday of sorts but it sure felt like it. The city experienced power interruptions the whole day today thus it was pretty much impossible to do any work. In my case, our sister organization had a whole day conference-meeting thus most of them were out of the office the whole day. So I was given the rest of the day off. Good thing I did some paperwork over the weekend that I was able to finish my end of the “dirty” liquidation work and was able to turn everything over to our Admin Officer. So it certainly felt like having my weekend extended. And what a weekend it was!

Synopsis (The short-cut version)

Friday, Candy and I saw a movie together. It wasn’t such a great movie in my opinion but Candy and I truly enjoyed each other’s company. But it was nothing compared to what we had last Sunday – almost a whole day of ukay frenzy! And it was such a treat, both literally and figuratively. There were lots of good stuff that day at really low, low prices. Enjoying that with Jenny and Candy – and Baby – sure was an added treat. We capped the day by enjoying some good conversation at Dunkin Donuts.

Oh, I correct myself. That was how I capped the day. I had to leave ahead of them when Baby did his “thing” hehehe I did not fancy cleaning him up in the tiny bathroom they had there so I decided to go home right away.

Apparently, Jeni and Candy spent some more time at the Ukay-ukay over at San Pedro and capped their day eating kwek2x! Both told me the experience was truly fun for them. Something they’ve never really done before. I’m glad to know they had so much fun.

I learned about their so-called escapade only this afternoon over pizza at Picobello. Yeah, sure was an extended weekend. Another long weekend well-spent with friends :)

The Longer Version (Complete with all the details, hehehe)

Pizza Monday. By three o’clock this afternoon, I was already enjoying a few slices of Pizza Marinaio and Siciliano along with Jeni, Candy, Bolo and Baby over at Picobello – another one of our fave local Italian resto :) We took advantage of their buy-one-pizza-take-one promo. It was still quite costly though but the promo lent a “you’re-getting-a-good-deal-out-of-your-money” feeling. And you are actually, given that you’re paying for just one of the really good pizza you’re having.

You can actually choose another “flavor” from the first one you’ve ordered so it’s really such a treat. Whatever is the more pricey one, that’s what you have to pay for. Not bad at all. And come to think of it, over at La Toscana, we usually pay twice as much for whatever we order there. So I take it back, it wasn’t really that costly, hehehe.

Marinaio, as expected was really good. It had seafood as toppings – squid, shrimp, and tuna. Siciliano, on the other hand, was good too. I particularly enjoyed the added flavor and texture lent to it by the slices of hardboiled eggs as its topping. It also has slices of artichokes, eggplants and bell peppers. It was really good. In the past we had sampled their ‘Four cheeses” pizza. As usual, the blue cheese was an acquired taste. It was good but I liked what we ordered today better. But enough of the pizza review :) I intended to write about how it turned out to be another good weekend.

Movie Friday. Friday night, Candy and I had a date of sorts. We went to see a movie. For the first time, we were actually able to catch a movie we’ve been really wanting to see. There had been countless of times when we kept on putting off watching a movie we liked till it’s no longer shown at the theaters-- always to our great disappointment.

We’ve also invited Jeni along but since it was a Tagalog movie we’re watching, she wasn’t quite convinced about choosing it over the report she had to finish. Bolo and I actually had a tiff over my going out that night. Nope, he wasn’t at all against it. In fact, he was really all for it and quite encouraging. It was I who was feeling a bit off at the thought that I was watching a movie without him.

Since we got married and even before that, watching a movie had always been something that we do together. So I was kind of wanting him to come along too. But when he found out it was Candy’s treat, he balked at the thought and said he’d stay home and watch over Baby instead. I made a great deal of out his “rejection” that we ended up fighting over it.

Hmm.. I’m about to digress again here. To me, it’s worth reflecting over why I always feel this need to make Bolo a part of “almost” everything that I do. But that’s an entirely different topic altogether. I’ll reflect and write about it later.

To cut it short, I tremendously enjoyed my time with Candy. I could not relate to the movie which was about infidelity – having an affair outside of marriage. But that did not stop me from sharing insights with Candy as we watched the movie along. It amused me to note that Candy took that of the wife’s perspective. She seems to always have an opinion to say on certain scenes that have got something to do with the wife’s reaction over her husband’s having a mistress. It sure was funny seeing her that way. I can’t help but think if we’d view the movie differently if we were “mistresses” ourselves hehehe I’m pretty sure we would have felt pity for Maricel’s character have we been mistresses instead of the wives that we are.

At one point Candy told me that “mistresses” should see the movie for them to realize that there are not enough excuses that would justify their having to break marriages. She said that while the wives have certain “imperfections” they are not enough reasons for husbands to take on a mistress, or words to that effect. I’m thinking, mistresses watching the movie would think differently. They’d probably see that what the mistress and the husband share was deep and “beautiful” and thus they should have pursued it till the end.

What I “saw” from the movie, however, was not about that. I saw that marriage is really a union of two different individuals. It’s about two persons with perhaps different background and different set of values deciding to start a life together as a couple.

Come to think of it, if one look at marriage that way, marriage is really like making something impossible work. Seeing it in that light, marriage indeed is such a daunting task. So, it would definitely be more difficult if you get married with someone you hardly knew in the first place. That was the case in the movie. I think it is the same thing as getting into something without knowing what it is that you really want.

But anyway, more than the movie, I was glad that Candy and I had that time for ourselves. We truly enjoyed each other’s company. Well, I speak for myself, hehehe.

Uneventful Saturday. Saturday, I just spent it at home. Around lunch time, Candy called and we sort of toyed with the idea of going out and meeting somewhere. I was momentarily short of funds, however, so I was not that keen about going out and Candy was sleepy too so that decided it. Sunday, however, was a different thing.

Not-At-All-Desperate-Housewives’ remedy for bruised pride and ego: Ukay Sunday! Very early, I was already nursing a hurt pride. Bolo was off diving but as early as Friday we have already agreed to go hear the anticipated Mass over at the Ateneo. But since he saw to the laundry the whole of Saturday and was tired, he begged off from our plan. Of course I did not take to it lightly. He appeased me with a promise we’d hear the first Mass the next day.

We both woke up real late that by the time we arrived in Church, we were too early for the second Mass. So we just offered some candles and decided to go home again. To appease me, Bolo said he’d really try his best to come home early in the afternoon.

It wasn’t until I reached home that the whole thing dawned on me. I pretty felt like a kid fooled, asked to dress up and promised an ice cream treat only to be given a popsicle in the end. I was so irked I called Bolo to tell him just that. That I felt I’ve been had. In response he said that he’d really try his best to come home early.

It turned out Candy was also somewhat irked with Archie, hehehe. We’ve decided that we had to remedy our somewhat feeling low. We agreed to go on a ukay frenzy that morning. I’ve been urging her to go to Bankerohan for some cheap but really good finds but we never came around to doing it. Finally, there was the opportunity. I called up Jeni who came and joined us later on.

I had to tag Baby along since Mama decided to go home to Empress that morning. So I was not really able to do any decent ‘hunting.” But it sure was great. When we came across a pile of Old Navy, Gap, Anne Klein, Mossimo, Banana Republic, etc. of really cute dresses, Candy and I almost fainted in delight, hehehe

The fainting was not due to the brand really or the fact that they looked brand new, some even with tags still. It’s more because of the fact that they are on sale for thirty pesos each. Imagine that! We were really like having a feast of sorts.

By the time Jeni arrived, Baby was already feeling up and perky. He was always toying with my hair, making a mess out of it. I was hardly dressed for anything that morning. I was in a hurry to meet the always prompt Candy that I had no time to think over what to wear. I grabbed a pair of old hiking shorts, don on a favorite kayaking shirt and grabbed the very first flip-flops I saw.

So I guess it was really no wonder when at one time, I was mistaken to be Candy’s yaya, haha! Really funny. I was carrying Baby at that time and helping him feed from his bottle. Candy on the other hand was busy leafing through the little girlie sundresses hung on a rack. Then this lady who was also sifting through the piles of clothes gestured to Baby and asked if he’s a “baby girl.” I said no. Then she gestured back at Candy and asked why she is looking at little girlie dresses. I almost laughed out loud when I realized what she was driving at. I politely told her Candy’s looking for dresses for her little girls, clearly implying that the baby I’m holding is my own.

After the lady left I told Candy how I suddenly became insecure about how I looked. She laughed off the incident and told me I was probably just mistaken. I told her I was most definitely not. But it was no big deal to me really. In fact, it was something that I regard as one of the highlights of the day.

Another highlight was Candy’s “Gap-pants-incident.” I’d rather not divulge what happened though as I could end up losing a very good friend haha! Sure was funny though and quite clever of Candy, I’d say.

All in all it was a great Sunday. Even baby’s wrong-timing-pooping was something I appreciated. Because it made me come home early. By the time Bolo texted me that he was already on his way home, I was already well-rested.

We ended up hearing the last Mass that day. Nonetheless it made me happy knowing Bolo was keen about keeping his word to me. One of the highlights that night was watching Baby’s beaming face as he dropped his one peso coin in the collection box :)