The Ferns in Louisiana

In celebration of Valentines and our momentous reunion, we took a trip, just the two of us, to Louisiana! Alan's timing was perfect for the Mardi Gras festival. We knew it's going to be crazy but you can only be crazy when you're young so we braved it!  

Alan knows that one of my dream destinations is France and the French Quarter is the closest thing we could go to for now. The architecture has a lot of European influence.

St. Louis Cathedral

Jackson Square

Unintentionally captured this lovebirds kissing by the Mississippi River. 

New Orleans is a mecca of arts! 

It is also the home of the king of jazz, Louis Armstrong.

Harvested tons of colorful bead necklaces from the Mardi Gras parade. 

 I'm totally buying one of these automatic lazy boys instead of a wheelchair for my senior years. LOL

And of course, the highlight of our every trip, FOOD!!!

Right after we got out of the airport, we looked for a place to grab a quick bite and passed by Chicken Shack. I've been to Shake Shack, Seafood Shack, but didn't know that a Chicken Shack exists!! For fried chicken lovers like me, this is a treat!

Alan tried their gumbo.

LA is one of the states that has great seafood like oysters! 

A Po Boy is short for Poor Boy. It's a sub sandwich that consists of usually fried seafood or meat in a french bread. I've never had an oyster and neither a Po'boy and I'm glad I had my first in NOLA! No doubt I would come back for this!

The star of Johnny's Po'boys is their Shrimp Po'boy.

Alan raved about their Roast beef Po'boy.

For Valentine's day dinner, Alan and I dined at The Three Muses Jazz bar along Frenchmen Street recommended by our friend Ping and Maria. 

A night couldn't be more romantic than with a serenade by an in house Jazz band.

For breakfast, we woke up early to get these famous square sized donuts covered in powdered sugar called "beignet". Cafe Du Monde is the most popular place you could get these while sipping their warm cafe au lait. 

I'm not much of a fan of alcohol but I like sweet cocktails like this, Hurricane. It's a popular drink served in NOLA. 

We also visited Louisiana's capital, Baton Rouge.  I was so thrilled when I saw this hotel that just exudes elegance. Super pogi points to my hubby! It's called L'Auberge Casino Hotel. There's a casino which if you play for 30 mins, you get to eat in their amazing buffet for free!! Their buffet showcased a wide array of LA's cuisine. Felt like we tried all the food that this state has to offer. It delights me to no end knowing my husband is gastronomically adventurous like me.  

They have a TV behind this mirror. No kidding!

Crab all you can!

A mouth watering cajun style shrimp and tilapia.

The struggle is real dude!

I'm pretty pleased with our trip to Louisiana, my 15th state to visit. Even more so because I'm with my favorite travel buddy, Alan. I am still incredulous of the fact that he's here. Everything is just surreal. Thank you Lord! 

xoxo,

Joselle

Worth the Wait

Today, Alan and I put an end to our seven year long-distance relationship. No words can ever describe what it is to finally know that it’s over, and that we made it through!

My heart swoons and my mind whispers, “we’ll never be apart again.”

As I picked up Alan from the airport, with a relief and a big smile on my face, I found myself in his loving arms once again and felt like a huge chunk of weight was lifted off of my shoulders, as I thought of the long wait we had to endure, dreams that had to be delayed, and all that would now be part of our past.

A new world opens up and I just cannot hide my joy for the future — one that awaits to be filled with awesome billion adventures. My life with my non virtual husband and as a real wife, begins now. 

Lord, giver of every good thing, thank you!!!

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. -Matthew 21:22

For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. -Hebrews 6:10-12

xoxo,

Joselle

Friday Group

From 2008 till today, my Fridays have been blocked out for the community of Couples for Christ. Through this, I've met people that became a big part of my life. It amazes me how God allows me to meet people I would never be able to sit down or hang out with. Because of this community, I gained many beautiful friendships, wonderful memories, deeper wisdom, challenges that turned into blessings, and most importantly, closer relationship to the Lord. 

When I was still single, my vivid memories of Fridays were so delightful. It's the day I looked forward the most. After work, I would hurriedly and eagerly go and see my friends in Singles for Christ. We would meet and pray together, if not watch movies, and would just end a stressful work week in a refreshing, and positive note. When I got married, of course, I transitioned over to a household for couples which blessed me with so many teachings and wisdom that equipped me spiritually as a wife and helped me set my priorities. All of them have been married for so many years which inspired me to strive to have a marriage not only long lasting but meaningful as well.  

This year, I had to say goodbye to my prayer group (Family Ministry) of 3 years and be part of another. That's the only way you would be able to grow and meet more people that God will allow you to touch and be touched by them. So often it astonishes me how God is so all knowing and how His timing is so perfect. On our recent Christian Life Program, our community gained a group of 5 young couples (1 soon-to-be married and 1 in a LDR) and they are all fairly newlyweds, without kids yet! It's just amazing how magically and timely our paths have crossed. God is on the ball and knew that we needed a support system to guide us and bless us as we journey to a new chapter of our lives. All of us are mostly in the same boat and would be able to relate to one another. In a couple of weeks, my husband would be joining me and I couldn't wait for him to meet them! I can just imagine right now how fun it would be if all of my sisters and I would get pregnant at the same time. :) 

I strongly feel that these people will be a part of my life for a very long time and I'm grateful. Our values, our principles and our goals seem to agree. We want nothing but the best for our marriages and for our future children. We want to fight a worldly culture of today and prove that marriages that have been sanctified by God can withstand any trials and that can last a lifetime. We love the Lord and we desire to serve Him in all possible way. Our friendship would always be deeply rooted in love, kindness, respect, joy, forgiveness, encouragement and Christlikeness. Those are what set this Friday group apart from the rest.

First household meeting for 2015 

Celebrated and honored the January babies 

Cake baked with love by our sister, Helen 

Frances and Katrina

Ton and Leah

Nina and Roland

xoxo,

Joselle

Pasta in Pesto Cream

I'm really one lucky girl because at 28, I get to go home after a long day with a decent home cooked meal by my mom. I don't ever have to worry about dinner or eating microwavable :p However, from time to time, she would ask me to cook when she gets tired of having Filipino food and also to give her a breather.  So tonight, she asked me to man the kitchen and cook one of my specialties, Pasta in Pesto Cream! This is such a no brainer dish and can even cook this now with eyes closed. lol. 

This is so quick and simple because I use ready made pesto instead of doing it from scratch. Why make life so complicated, right? hahaha. But if I get a chance, I would love to try making my own pesto to make it more legit. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 whole tomato, diced
• 16 oz of heavy whipping cream
• 10 oz basil pesto
• 1 lb pasta of your choice
• parmesan cheese
• salt
• pepper

Procedure:

1. Boil pasta. Follow instructions from the box.
2. In another pot, melt butter and saute garlic.
3. Add the cream and pesto, stir and bring to a boil until it thickens.
4. Add parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. 
5. Toss the tomato when done.
6. Pour the sauce over to the pasta, mix well and serve.
7. Enjoy!

We just had an Italian night having my pesto and ordering pizza from Costco while watching our adorable Italian Pope's historic visit to the motherland on TV. What a blessed night. Thank you Lord we survived another week! Have a great weekend y'all! :)

xoxo,

Joselle

Prenup Shoot At Home

30+ years from now, these are the photos that we will show our children and grandchildren and say: "Look at how young, skinny, and good looking your Lolo and Lola used to be." hahaha. 

These were taken a few days prior to our wedding three years back. Our wedding photographer, Redscale, asked us if we were interested to do a prenup photo shoot and they were willing to do it free of charge. Thanks to our best man who is a good friend of our photographer :) What I liked about them was they weren't intruding and were very respectful of our ideas. So we huddled and brain stormed of where we could best shoot and we couldn't think of a better location than in our hometown in the Philippines, Scouter Ojeda.

I've seen quite a number of engagement photos with interesting concepts. Some were shot in a beach, while some in a country side, all glammed up with cute props. All of them seemed nice because you can never go wrong with the beauty of mother nature. However, for us, we wanted to capture the memoir of our love story. We weren't too concerned about the view or how glamorous our picture will turn out. Plus both of us were on a budget so we knew that traveling out of the city would costs quite more so we kept it pretty low key. The only thing we paid for was everyone's lunch. It was a no stress and super duper chill day. Very at home. haha. 

Just to give you a brief history, our love story all started in Ojeda. I live right next door to Alan inside a compound. We were neighbors and God probably pats me in my back for I was obedient to his command of loving thy neighbor :P I would either go to their house and hung out with his younger sister, who was my best friend or have some adult talk with his Lola Charing who kept heaps of wisdom. As time passed and perhaps because I was the only girl he would meet (outside of his family) regularly, his feelings for me grew fonder ;) One thing I liked about meeting Alan at his home was I witnessed the way he behaved towards his family, even to their household helpers, full of respect and love. There's a saying that goes, "the way a man treats his mother/sister, is the way he'll treat his wife. I knew he'd treat me well because he's a gentleman to the ladies of their home. 

I miss the good old times we had in their ancestral house. We would play computer games, sing karaoke, watch movies, get together for birthdays, Christmas and New Years. All of those were nothing but happy memories that drew us closer and led our love to blossom. 

Soon, Alan is going to leave his beloved home too, but we would always have a nice souvenir which are these photographs and the memories in our hearts. 

      

xoxo,

Joselle