biker boy and writer girl

This is Spanky competing at the 3rd Ros Downhill Challenge at Taytay, Rizal last week.  He has joined several competitions since he rekindled this childhood passion some three years ago.  And he chose to concentrate on the extreme sport of downhilling because...well, I don't know.  He would have to answer that on a separate post.

It's only the 2nd time I've seen him compete--the first time, I saw him break his collarbone into 3 pieces. Yeowch.

But this time, he crossed the finish line, unscathed.  Thank God.

My mom and sis-in-law always corner me into convincing Spanky to change his sport. But they don't know how stubborn he is; besides, this is what he loves doing.  His eyes shine when he's browsing bike stuff, when he's with biker friends from 43 bikes, and when he's just finished his run.

If Spanky is to biking, then I am to writing.

This is me signing my name on my children's book 2 months ago.  And beside me is Liwliwa (in fuchsia and yellow), a fellow writer and dear friend.

I've been writing since I was kid.  Before college, I thought I could be a writer, but in the University where I studied, there were so many better writers who were better-versed in English. So I just shrugged off my dream and thought I could be a photographer instead.

But the first job I got was being a copywriter for websites, giving me renewed confidence.  Pretty soon, I joined KUTING (Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting), and this opened doors for me to publish my work.

Spanky's pretty good in writing too; he actually won 1st place in the Free Press Essay Category in 1998. 

I, on the other hand, am not good in biking.  In fact, I've never learned how to bike.  The last time I tried was months ago (with Nessa, who took the photos below), and all I had to show for it were...

freewheeling for about 3.5 seconds...

and making faces at the camera while sweating like a pig.

I really should get back on the bike 'cause I want to learn the skill (legend has it, biking can actually be fun!), and I want to understand this thing that has got Spanky (and a lot of my friends) under its spell.

*downhill photos by Armie
*book launch photos by Zarah

Agay and Spanky's Wedding video

Spanky edited our wedding video 2 days before the big day, while meeting work deadlines.

The Weyding

We loved our wedding--everything from our game na game guests to the short but sweet ceremony and the overflowing buffet and dessert bar (which we were too excited and busy to sample). So to everyone, thanks so much for attending! Here are a few stories behind the wedding details:

The hunt for the wedding venue commenced late last year, and after a few trips (we're not an energetic couple when it comes to canvassing), Spanky chanced upon Casa Espanol on the internet. Since it was so near my house, we decided to visit the place. A pleasant granddad greeted us (he started the "business" but later on, handed it to his son and daughter-in-law), and we chatted about, not just the venue, but the intricacies of getting married. He gave us tips on how to save on costs, and I guess this pleasant conversation sparked our decision to choose Casa Espanol.


The jar centerpieces were Spanky's idea. He's a big fan of this wedding site, which features intimate garden weddings. So the months before our big day were spent on hunting for jars, and scrubbing them clean. Actually, the venue coordinator was a bit skeptical about the setup because she felt the jars were too small (she was used to towering centerpieces overflowing with blooms), but soon after, she got excited by the whole simple-themed wedding. Just last week, we got in touch and she told me that it was a fun wedding, and that she still remembers every detail.


We wanted our outfits to be simple; we didn't coordinate with each other because each of us had his/her own look in mind. Even when we were on our first year as a couple, Spanky always emphasized that wearing a barong on his wedding was a no-no; he just wanted to be dressed in a polo shirt. So he went for that ska-ish look with the long sleeved polo (on sale at Memo), the plaid pants (cloth from the Kamuning market, sewn by Bootleg) and the brown Vans (sponsored by Mama Ditas).

Meanwhile, all I wanted was a flower wreath for my head, and it just followed that the rest of my outfit should be simple. I didn't even buy new wedding shoes since my feet were covered by my dress, which was a gift from my ninang seamstress.


My upright bouquet was done by the guy who does the flower arranging for my neighborhood church. At first, I just wanted Malaysian mums, but he put his foot down, saying that they were too common.


The wedding cake was a gift from my sis-in-law, who makes customized cakes. She got the idea for the Patrick and Spongebob theme from our pre-nup photos wherein we were holding the character balloons. Then she used citrus colors to match the orange theme.


Souvenirs were done by my Spanky's sis and her hubby--choco tablea cupcakes. We had the stickers done in the neighborhood printing shop, whose manager (or owner?) surprised us with a free 8x10 version of the photo, saying, "Ito na lang ang wedding gift ko sa inyo." Thank you, sweet stranger.

The Wedding Dance was supposed to be choreographed by our dancer diva friend, but we couldn't coordinate our scheds. Spanky, who wanted the dance number scrapped from the program (but I was makulit), ended up choreographing it. Good thing people liked the dance. Thanks, Chris Brown for lending us your song, "Forever."

And finally, can I just thank the universe (and my brother and Nessa) for our wonderful serendipity judge? Ours was Judge Gilda's first wedding outside the City Hall, and I'm so glad everything worked out great. Okay, here's a backgrounder on what happened: about a month before the wedding, I mentioned to my kuya that we still didn't have a judge. He told me that he could get his officemate's wife to do it. Hassle-free! Or so, it seemed.

We waited and waited and waited, and found out that due to some technical ek-eks, the judge couldn't do it. So they recommended another judge whom we didn't know. I balked.

So I asked help from friends to help me find a young, hip judge (I didn't want one who would drone and mumble throughout the ceremony), and no one was able to deliver. Until Nessa referred me to this judge, who couldn't also perform the ceremony, but whose assistant can aid us in filing paperwork for applying for a random judge.

And it turned out that she was the same judge whom my brother originally contacted! And it was her assistant who gave me hope that perhaps, they could request from the powers that be to allow Judge Gilda to preside over our wedding. And after a few more battles, the case was won. Judge Gilda was a gem.

There are lots more behind-the-scenes stories, but for now, let us do a quick rundown of thanks to everyone who helped:

Our parents Ding and Ditas, Rody and Ping

Our siblings and siblings-in-law (Denise & Jake, Nikki, Donna, Ian & Penny, Franz & Sol)

Our entourage (the 2 Maxines, Javi, Ram, Trixie, and Lance)

Our principal sponsors (Tita Carmen, Alain and Bosing Cheche)

Liwliwa and Dang for manning the reception table

Liwliwa for the ring box

Mawj for the flowergirls' headpieces

Love and Albert (and Michie) for being the hosts

Our photographer-friends Dars, Jomar, Boogs, Peejo, Jops and Jayho

Beth for coordinating between us and everything Probe

Ros for beautifully dressing up the venue

Kuya Robert for designing and printing wedding invites

Yakkers especially Tet and Ella for organizing the bridal/groom shower, and to the rest of the girls for handing out the souvenirs

Mabes for the colored pens, and circulating the guestbook

And to everyone who came, witnessed our pag-iisang dibdib and joined in the fun.

Thank you, God.

*featured photos by Jomar Lianko and Peejo Pilar

The Binondo Food Tour

Two or three years ago, I birthday-gifted Spanky with a cutesy card with cutesy coupons he could redeem for bike accessories or a Binondo food trip, and my sweet love.

So last month, he finally availed of one gift (i mean the food tour; the sweet love was given 24/7--or whenever one or the other wasn't bugnutin). We decided to drag along a friend each, and we hied off to Binondo in full anticipation, and with empty tummies.

Ivan, the now famous tour guide who appeared in Anthony Bourdain's show, led us in and around the streets. The group was largish with, I think, 15 tourists, roughly half of which were foreigners.

And I don't know why we didn't take food photos, but needless to say, we had a delicious time sampling the exotic dumplings, the fresh lumpia topped with minced raw garlic, the piping-hot siopao, and of course, the flaky, creamy hopia.





It was nice to see Binondo in a new light. The few times I was here, I was always rushing, my eyes straight ahead, and on my bag, to make sure it wouldn't get slashed or snatched. But this time, we lingered on the sidewalks, looking up and down, drinking in the olden buildings, the Buddhist shrine suddenly popping out from nowhere, the street names adorned with Chinese dragons.

After the trip, we had our nightcap at East St. Louis, our ears having their fill of 80s music and soulful conversation.

The First Honeymoon

Two days after the wedding, we'd barely recovered from post-matrimonial stress and puyatan, but our fatigue, we must first quell because it was time to go to Palawan for our honeymoon.







Spanky had the sniffles; I had my period, but we gamely hopped from one island to another, snorkeling away, allowing the salt, sun, and sand to soak in our skins, browning them to golden-baked perfection.

Our four days were filled to the brim (we availed of a tour package that dictated our itinerary), but we were able to make side trips on our own, like the wet market, nightly food trips, and squeezing in a tampuhan or two to spice up our vacay.

* We booked the tour at Calamian Travel and Tours and flew via Air Philippines.