Tag: marriage

Secret Civil Wedding: Becoming Mrs. Villanueva Part 1

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It was supposed to be a “secret wedding”… We wanted our partnership to be legal and official even before we lay out all the plans for 2023, one of which is being able to do our dream beach wedding. Blame it to my “segurista” and OC personality, I just want everything ironed out on the legal front before the year ends. And I’m very grateful for the fact that Mahal has always wanted to marry me and supports me all the way, til forever and beyond… ❤

Actually, if we didn’t have the funds to do a beach wedding next year, a simple, “secret”, intimate civil wedding one is what we’ll really do. We are both introverts after all. I was even content to just have a piece of thread tied to my finger as a promise of his love. But thank you, God, for blessing us with a beautiful engagement, complete with an engagement photoshoot and engagement video shoot, and even an engagement honeymoon in Camotes Island which I’ll share here soon. We really feel so grateful plus I feel like such a celebrity (lol!) doing 2 kinds of weddings. Actually, even before J.Lo and Ben Affleck did their two weddings, doing the same had always been my plan… the two stars just beat us to it! Lol!

Didn’t JLo say

“Life is an art… and we are the artists… make it as beautiful as you want and create exactly what you want it to be…”

So that’s what we did!

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How to Communicate Better With Your Significant Other? [Real Talk with My Then Live-In Partner]

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The recording of this video happened 13 months ago, Nov. 17, 2021, at Crimson Resort in Mactan as we were celebrating Tuz’s 6th birthday. I’ve always wanted to share this here in the hopes that it may give some helpful insights for other couples, particularly those living together for several years now, who are trying to be better partners and lovers and trying to find certainty about where their relationship is really going.

I mentioned it here on my previous blog post that Mahal and I have had our share of tough times in our relationship prior to getting engaged last April 25, 2022. There have been so many fights and we almost broke up for good. I believe that one of the major reasons why we were able to work things out, stay together, and continue to love one another was because of our willingness to be better communicators. We already know we love each other so, so much. That’s already a given. But if we don’t know how to properly communicate our wants, needs, thoughts, and feelings, we will continue to crumble as a couple.

So I’m very thankful for talks like this because it made loving each other much easier. Plus, looking back, it just makes me all the more proud of how far we’ve come in our relationship, how deeper our understanding of each other is now, and how much more we’ve grown to love each other, more than we ever did before…

So, here it is… bring some popcorn with you because this is quite long… ❤

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breakup

Annulment Questions Answered

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I’ve been wanting to continue my blog series about Boracay especially that it’s summer and the weather has been really nice here down south and I’m missing the beach so much because of the community quarantines and lockdowns. But because it takes at least 4 hours to do a travel blog post (although most of the time it takes me a whole day because of a ton of travel photos I need to sift through and edit), and I can’t afford to have that much free time this weekend because I need to finish editing the videos for our Online Mushroom Cultivation Training, I decided to have this post which has been on draft mode since the first week of March.

A reader anonymously emailed me at that time asking questions about my annulment. The questions she asked me didn’t occur to me before and I thought it would be helpful if I share her questions and my answers on my blog. I asked her permission if I can blog about her email letter and she gave me her “yes” in the hopes that someone else in her position could glean some insight from it.

So below are her emails and my replies… please be kind while reading.

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annulment

Annulment Process in the Philippines [Here are the 8 Steps I Took]

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I’ve been awake since 12 noon yesterday. I woke up, had my tea from Blue Bee One PH and went about my daily tasks feeling very optimistic that I will finish all my deadlines when I got an email from my ex following up about the finality of our annulment. I then texted my lawyer about it, half expecting his answer to be the same “still waiting for finality” when lo and behold I got a reply from him saying I’m single again (“dalaga ka na ulit…”) The Office of the Solicitor General finally granted the finality of my petition for annulment. I was ecstatic! My heart started beating so fast I was hyperventilating! Finally! After 3.5 years of emotional, mental and financial stress, I AM FINALLY FREE! I married at 24 years old, and now at 41, I am single again.

I was of course so happy that I immediately posted the news on my Facebook profile. My friends congratulated me. I was on Cloud 9! Continue reading →

5th anniversary

How To Make A Relationship Last [3 Major Tips for Those Living Together]

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We’re home now from our very long road trip starting from Cagayan de Oro to Oslob, then Dumaguete, Bacolod, Iloilo, Gigantes, Boracay, back to Iloilo, Bacolod, Oslob, Cebu City, Dapitan, and now back in Cagayan de Oro. Whew! What a blast it has been! We are so tired from our trip but so rejuvenated as well.

We came home just in time for a few things:

  • my grandfather’s 95th birthday celebration
  • an event I am attending later for Solane as a blogger
  • a package that arrived from Blue Bee which I will be using and reviewing before I join their affiliate program
  • and most especially, just in time for our 5th anniversary as committed life partners ❤

Wow! So many blessings! Thank you, God, for all these love and opportunities in my life right now. I really feel blessed despite the fact that I am oh so tired (which is why I am now taking Thiocell to give me more energy, aside from my usual multivitamins and organic supplements — perhaps, I’ll blog about them next time).

Anyway, that long trip of ours really tested our faith, our patience, and ultimately our love for one another. We are used to traveling together, but it’s not always that we travel with a group, more so, our extended family. I must admit that on a few occasions, it did make me feel like I wanted to give up on us because of the little stresses that came along the way (you can read about it here: How to Avoid Travel Burnout When Traveling With a Group) but as always, after every storm, a rainbow always comes and I’m glad that we always get out of it stronger than ever.

So how do we keep managing to strengthen our love and commitment for each other (as if we’re falling in love for the first time all over again) despite our imperfections? How do we make our relationship last year after year after year and hopefully until death do we part? How do you make your relationship last longer… until marriage… how do you make a marriage last a lifetime?

Below are the major 3 things I learned along the way (which I learned the hard way by the way) and which I want to share with you in case you’re in a relationship too, whether a new one or a seasoned one, and you want to make your relationship stronger too. As I continue to embark in this amazing relationship with my best friend, my life partner, my soulmate, my Mahal, here are the 3 major tips I can give you based on our own experiences: Continue reading →

dream catcher

Rants of a Sleep-Deprived Mom

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Hello Monday!

As usual, when I haven’t been blogging for several weeks, it just means that the next time I will, I have to rant my way into blogging first as a form of catharsis before I get on with my regular programming. It’s part of my OCness. I have to recognize in written form what have I been up to the past month so I can let it all go in my head and happily blog again.

So… the past month since I last posted here has been nothing but super busy. I always tell myself that I’ll blog tomorrow, or I’ll finish that vlog entry this coming weekend… until 4 weeks have passed and I’m still where I left myself.

I can’t believe it’s been a month of mostly just 2-3 hours of interrupted sleep every day. How did I survive??? I’ve been handling more and more tasks for my clients (which means more pay so for that I am grateful, more money to save and set aside for our farm business) and Tuz has been so much needier and hyperactive from the time he wakes up until the time he falls asleep. He has no downtimes at all. It’s either 10-12 hours of sleep when I also do most of my work and 10-12 hours of hyperactivity and neediness! When do I get to fully rest??? Either I sacrifice my work, I sacrifice my time with Tuz, or I sacrifice my sleep! Yeah, you guessed it right. My sleep is the one that’s taking the most hit. No more peaceful slumber for this overfatigued mom and it’s been basically going on since the time I gave birth to him 3 years ago. OMG! Continue reading →

letting go

The Power of Letting Go

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I just received good news when I woke up this morning! I was on the way out of the bathroom when my phone rang. My phone rarely rings because people rarely call me since they can always contact me online. In a split second, I thought it was Leylan, the electrician who fixed the electrical wiring in the bedroom yesterday who said he will come back today to fix our broken washing machine. But when I looked at my phone… guess who??? It’s my lawyer! Continue reading →