A One of a Kind Gift

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I’ve always believed that the internet has opened a lot of doors for people around the globe to meet and develop real relationships online and offline. My past relationship of five years is a testament to that. And throughout the past months, I have developed real friendships online, most especially with my fellow bloggers. One of them, I’ve already blogged about last time – Eihdra of One Proud Momma, who I consider as my BBFF. Now, I’d like to introduce you to my newfound blogger friend – Joy of Notepad Corner.

First off, let me tell you how Joy and I met. She used to own a computer shop and we were active forum members of ULOP where LAN shop owners like us come together to help each other. I fortunately was able to inspire and encourage her to start her own blog. Thus, Notepad Corner was born. And, as a birthday gift to her in January, I gave her a domain name. I also promised her a free blog theme design as my “housewarming” gift to her (waahh I promise to finish it, sis, as soon as possible!).

Eihdra, Joy and I became very close, especially this past two months. To explain why that happened, I’ll just cite the famous saying “Birds of the same feather flock together”. We have a lot of things in common. Well, except that they both have their own families already and I’m still a single woman. We’re all perfectionists and grammar Nazis *LOL*. We also are into the crazy, wild side, details of which I can’t divulge here. *LOL* We’re all very independent and strong women. I now wonder how we got along well considering we’ve got strong personalities, which can usually cause friction in any kind of relationship. I guess we just enjoy how open and crazy we can be with each other without worrying that anyone of us would judge. :)

Anyway, last month, Joy planned a get-together of us 3 and expressed her interest in meeting my nanay. She said she has a surprise gift for me and my mom, which she eventually revealed as she couldn’t contain her excitement any longer. Hahaha. I’ll show you her gift in a bit.

So, we set the date on March 13th. I met Joy, with her husband Noi and youngest son Yahmir, at Puregold in Monumento in Caloocan City. I shopped for sodas, Tanduay Ice (my addiction now *LOL*) and chips. A couple of hours minutes later, we met Eihdra at the LRT station. Funny, she was so scared while we were crossing the streets. She’s not used to commuting and crossing busy streets like in Monumento so we had to literally hold her hand while we were going back to Puregold. *LOL*

On our way back, by the way, we dropped by Red Ribbon. Eihdra wanted to bring cakes for us to enjoy after lunch. I haven’t had any cakes or even Magnolia red velvet cupcake for weeks since my family and I were trying to stay away from sweets, but it’s just a one day thing so I thought it’ll just be okay. But, unfortunately, we completely forgot about the cakes! We were busy chatting and gossiping that none of us mentioned about the cakes ‘til they were already in the car, leaving for Monumento.

Anyway, going back to the start of our day, because of Joy’s gift, we ended up meeting up at our humble home in Malabon. As soon as we arrived, we saw that my mom already had our lunch and the table prepared for us. That’s fortunate ‘cause we were all very hungry, most especially Yahmir. But, we just had to take a photo first before digging in.

I requested that my mom prepare her specialty, Kare-kare! We had Beef Kare-kare and Seafood kare-kare. We also had bangus (Milkfish), steamed shrimps, green mango and bagoong salsa.

It took us awhile to leave the dining table. All our dieting plans went out the window. *LOL* I’m so happy to see them love my mom’s cooking. Of course, my mom felt so satisfied, too. Thanks, nanay! :)

After lunch, we decided to sit at our sofa and chat away. Eihdra brought her own CDs and mic, Joy brought their Magic Sing. We only got to play Eihdra’s CD and our videoke CD, too. Here’s Eihdra singing her heart out to Taylor Swift’s Love Story:

And, here’s Joy dancing while Eihdra’s singing:

There are other photos of Joy dancing, but she doesn’t want me to post it anywhere. Too bad ‘cause it was pretty cool and wild seeing her dance! Hahaha. We had a ton of fun!

And, no, it’s not the alcohol talking ‘cause Tanduay Ice barely have any alcohol content to get me even a bit tipsy. We were all hard drinkers, that I found out as one of the things we’ve got in common. ^_^

Here are other photos during our get-together:

My nanay getting first dibs on the videoke while Eihdra,
in the background, browsing our songbook. *LOL*

My father and Joy’s husband Noi hanging out while drinking brandy. Thanks to my dad for entertaining Noi. Yahmir was inside my computer shop the whole time playing games. ^_^

And, here’s the gift Joy gave me… a brand new Kyowa microwave!

Can you fricking believe that she gave me this as a gift?! She got the idea when my mom and I joined this contest on Facebook where we could win a microwave. We didn’t win and so Joy surprised me with this. Words aren’t enough to explain how shocked I was and thankful for the gift. Our old microwave broke after over 4 years of warming our food and hearts (chos!). We didn’t have plans of replacing it ASAP ‘cause we were prioritizing buying a new refrigerator instead. So, my whole family was really grateful for this gift. Thank you, Joy and Noi!

Now, about the post title, “A One of a Kind Gift”. No, I wasn’t referring to the microwave that Joy gave me. The post title is about the true one-of-a-kind gift that Joy and Eihdra gave me – genuine friendship and their sincere interest in meeting my family, who they both know means the world to me. I couldn’t ask for more.

Thank you, Joy and Eihdra for the friendship. I’m so happy that our paths met. I’m thankful that God brought us 3 together. I super enjoyed our get-together. And, Joy, we hope to hang out with you again really soon! I miss both of you and I love yah, sistahs! :)