It’s always nice to look back at the past, to rejoice at good things that happened, and to be thankful for surviving the bad. I haven’t done this in a while, except over coffee with my best friend, or while looking at photos on Facebook Memories.

I was going to recap the whole year, but all the pictures would have made the post kilometric! Each month was so eventful, with work, friends, travel and geekness, and each month deserves its own post.

So here’s January!

Chris and Jillian’s wedding

We were so thrilled when they announced their engagement. They’d been together for as long as I could remember!

It was such a beautiful wedding. Chris teared up through most of the ceremony, and every time I saw his tears, I started crying too. It was just lovely.

Sweetheart in the hospital

On Christmas Eve of 2014, we were blessed with a darling little kitten. She just appeared in our garage, and never left! We took her in and named her Sweetheart.

On January 14, I noticed something. I texted Oneal, “Sweetheart’s hind legs are weak. I think it’s similar to what happened to Botchok when she was very young. She was suddenly unable to move her hind legs. Parang pinched nerve.”

I brought Sweetheart to the vet, and she was confined for observation and tests. The problem was that we were leaving for Cebu two days later. Oneal wanted to cancel the trip, but I convinced him to push through with it. But every single day I texted the veterinarian for updates.

It turned out to be a viral infection, with high fever. When we got back, we picked her up from the vet, and she was so happy to come home.

Sinulog
Our fellow 501st members in Cebu invited us to march with them in the annual Sinulog parade. It was my first time to attend the fiesta!

According to the festival website, “Sinulog is a dance ritual in honor of the miraculous image of the Santo Nino. The dance moves to the sound of the drums and this resembles the current (Sinulog) of what was then known as Cebu’s Pahina River. Thus, in Cebuano, they say it’s Sinulog.”

Dumaguete

My team and I returned to Silliman University for a youth forum and media workshop.

We love that quiet University town. The food is great, the people are friendly, and it just feels homey.

Tita Ruby and Mike came home
Tita Ruby is my best friend Dante’s mom. She was also a principal sponsor at our wedding, like a godmother to both me and Oneal. She’s practically another mom to us. She’s craft-crazy and creative, and we consult her on many of our builds and costumes.

Since 1998 she’s been living in the US with her husband Mike. In 2010 they came home to attend our wedding. To fit in with our Star Wars theme, Tita Ruby made Star Wars costumes for herself and Mike!

http://oursimplejoys.com/life-in-the-usa/images/breha/09-mike-and-ruby.jpg

Read about it here!

In 2014 they decided to move back to Manila. We were pretty happy that we would be able to share with them all the food, projects and misadventures we kept telling them about over the years.

So you see, from the start 2015 was pretty exciting. Stay tuned for my February recap!

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December