A House Warming That Warmed Our Hearts

It has been a busy week in mid-September that climaxed in Antipolo on a Sunday,  the house warming of our niece and nephew-in-law.  

     Their house facade

At dawn on that Friday before was also the arrival of my sister's friends and neighbors from Florida who came to attend her milestone birthday celebration.  

 

                  Jim with Ben and Alessandra

We welcomed them with a Filipino breakfast.  

Mary Grace is becoming a must-go-to restaurant for tourists and balikbayans.  Jim and I brought them around town while we made the final preparations for the birthday party happening that Saturday night. 

Like I said earlier, it takes time to really enjoy pleasurable moments with our favorite people and in our case the good times happened one after the other within the month.  That's why this blog is a bit late.  I just needed to set aside these thoughts about the house warming because I wanted to focus on the succeeding events with my children in Singapore the following week. 

Back on the house warming

Their new place is on the other side of town but my niece was thoughtful to send over a van to get us and bring us back.  We were in luck traveling that route on a Sunday, on other days it would have taken us 3 hours, and even worse during peak hours. 

But I'd say it was worth all the long trip.  Their house is very serene, an open-concept living room, dining and kitchen area made more relaxing with neutral shades all around.  

I have to give it to our niece and nephew-in-law to want such a house that calm the soul with its elegant and pleasant atmosphere.   This couple work so hard to start, expand and sustain their business; such a formidably difficult feat in this day and age in our country. 

"You've got a great place here", I told my nephew by way of making conversation, while we were served  drinks with baked oysters and other hors d'oeuvres I didn't recognize but delicious. 

"This is so relaxing, I'm sure you really must enjoy it after a hard day's work", I further said. 

"Yes Tita, we love it too, it is quite relaxing after driving through traffic almost the whole day".  

I'm so happy for them, they really deserve this restful haven for their family. 

 

Our hosts: our niece and nephew-in-law with Alessandra

The day was a happy event, there was dancing, too.

I have to commend my niece who went out of her way  to include her cousins, the children of our siblings who live abroad.  

It was a happy reunion with nieces and nephews.  In as much as we wanted to stay longer, we had to leave since we still need to bring back my sister's guest at their hotel. They needed to pack and rest for the next day of shopping before leaving for the airport.