Tag: Starbucks

Starbucks Double Date

Rhiza2 Comments

It’s November and the Christmas drinks at Starbucks are here. So on Saturday morning, I convinced my husband to go to the nearest Starbucks with me so that I could get my Toffee Nut fix.

But his idea was even more crazy brilliant: Take the twins with us and have a little family date. And so we did, and what I got was more than just a satisfied craving.

Starbucks double date

Going to Starbucks has always meant for me either one of these two things: (1) to meet friends for some catching up, or (2) to have some alone time with my laptop, my earphones, and my thoughts. Bringing along two giddy little girls is surely a deviation from my usual Starbucks “dates”.

Instead of having a meaningful conversation, my husband and I had our hands full—holding the babies close, feeding them, entertaining them, singing songs to them, and making sure they didn’t fall off the couch.

But in the midst of the riot, I found myself pausing for one moment and holding back tears of joy.

Starbucks double date

It was my Dad’s birthday that day.

He would have been 64, and I still often find myself wishing that he’s around to spoil his grandchildren rotten, watch them grow, and steal them from us every now and then so that the parents can go away for a date haha.

But even if there’s a little bit of sadness in that thought, mostly there was joy knowing that a part of my Dad lives on.

So we placed a little candle on our Banoffee Pie to remember the life of the Great Lolo Bob who still never fails to inspire us even until now, 6 years after he’s gone to be with the Lord.

Happy birthday, Dad. Happy birthday, Lolo. We love you.

Starbucks double date

I praise God for moments like this.

In fact, I look forward to moments like this. Afternoons when we can just slow down and breathe in this new life that we have as a family. Times when we can bring them along wherever we go (while they still have no choice!), take them to places we love, and make some happy core memories.

And okay, maybe I’m a little too excited about making memories. They just turned one year old and surely they won’t have a recollection of this day just yet.

But someday.. someday, they’ll start to remember.

In the meantime, I’ll keep taking photographs and writing memories down.

Christmas is the Saddest of all Holidays

Rhiza19 Comments

Today they put up Christmas lights in our condominium’s lobby. And as I lingered in the lobby tonight on my way out to get coffee, I suddenly remembered my mom and how she shed a tear or two as we passed through rows of lanterns displayed along Ortigas extension a couple of weeks ago.

Christmas lights are evil. (I don’t know why I even thought of putting up those little light bulbs in my room.) They’re among the first indicators that Christmas is near, along with Christmas carols and the much-coveted Starbucks planners. And it’s sad, and torturous, to be reminded of Christmas.

Don’t you just think that Christmas is the saddest holiday ever? Or is it just me?

I think there’s something about it that makes people feel melancholy, inspite of the holiday rush and the shopping frenzy and the colorful wrappers and gifts. It’s.. Sad. Like you just want it over and done with, get what I’m saying?

If I wasn’t blogging this thru my mobile phone, this is the part where I google and link back to that study that claims that suicide rates shoot up during the Christmas holidays, and maybe try to make sense out of this feeling I get whenever this time of the year comes by.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Christmas, and I acknowledge it to be the day in the year when we celebrate Christ’s birth, when we remember that salvation came to mankind in the form of the Father’s only Son.

And well, I love that I can spend nights like this with a good book while sipping Toffee Nut Latte at Starbucks, something you can’t do any other time of the year. (I just kinda wish they’d stop playing all countless versions of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer already.)

It’s just that.. I really think that it’s the most melancholy of all the holidays, Christmas, and I’m kinda wondering if someone else feels the same way too.

Any other human being who feels the same way? Pls. Let me know. Let’s have coffee and be sad together. My treat. I need 5 more Starbucks stickers.

[Posting with my mobile phone]