The Story of Carol & Ricky Refuerzo

Cebu Escapade – Another Music Video

Ricky — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:55:57 +0000

Here’s another video from our vacation/honeymoon last December 2009 in Cebu, videos were taken by my wife Carol Picardal-Refuerzo & video editing by me this time using Sony Vegas video editing software.

Enjoy!

Fly Away – A Music Video

Ricky — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:11:00 +0000

During our Cebu & Bohol trip, we’ve collected a lot of photos & videos. I have no problem with photo editing, I have my Photoshop CS3 to take care of the photo.

On the other hand, I have no video editing software except for the Windows Movie Maker, so I googled the term “free video editing software,” the results were frustrating, either the free software were discontinued or the software does not support the new video formats i.e. MPG, MP4 etc. Good thing I found VideoSpin by Pinnacle, I downloaded this 148MB free video software & tried it, here’s what I’ve accomplished.

It’s a basic cut-to-cut video editing software which is good for non-pro video editing job, I love it! I’m planning to edit all the pending videos, so do watch out for it.

See You Soon…

Ricky — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 08:07:33 +0000

Time moves so fast, after more than a month of being together, it’s time to part ways again. Wife left yesterday via Philippine Airlines bound to Vancouver, Canada. She sent me this photos she took after arriving.

I haven’t seen not touched any snow, it makes me excited to see some. In the near future…

Ube Halaya

Ricky — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:40:02 +0000

Wife is going back to Canada & preparation is going on. My brother who also lives in Canada loves ube halaya & instead buying the commercially available, we want it prepared our way.

The preparation & ingredient is no different from how other people would prepare it but (I believe) it taste better. Wait ’till you taste it!

Happy New Year

Ricky — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 08:38:17 +0000

Our new year’s eve celebration this year is the typical Pinoy new year’s eve, firecrackers & fireworks (which was given by an aunt from Bulacan), BBQ, rice delicacies, 12 fruits (Nanay will never forget getting this), spaghetti, and noise.

It was a time to celebrate, a new year always brings new hope… Happy new year to all!!!

First Christmas Together

Ricky — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:33:08 +0000

This is our first Christmas together, there’s not much activity, we just went to the mall & did some last minute aguinaldo shopping. For us, the most important thing about Christmas is knowing that once upon a time, a child was born into this world to save the world.

Watching Handsong Live on Christmas Eve

Ricky — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:10:47 +0000

Christmas Eve in our church is when the talented Sunday School students perform, there’s dancing, singing & acting. This year, we have the privilege to watch the presentation, we’ll be sharing the part that we enjoyed the most, the Handsong, first video is their rendition of Apo Hiking Society’s Tuloy na tuloy pa rin ang pasko.

This next video is how they interpreted Gary Valenciano’s We are the reason.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed it as much as we do.

Happy Birthday to me!

Ricky — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:11:16 +0000

The last time i celebrated my birthday was when I turned 21 some 18 years ago. Well, it’s just time to celebrate it, this being my first birthday as a married man.

Wife & I went to SM Dasma to buy a Black Forrest cake at Red Ribbon and that’s it.

My simple wish is longer life so I’d be able to build my own family.

Puto Bumbong Cavite Style

Ricky — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:36:54 +0000

It’s back to reality, after a week of spending our time together in a “paradise” were back in Manila. It’s December 16 & the first day of the “Simbang Gabi”, so after managing some business in Malabon, we attended the night service in our church. Yes it’s being held in the evening.

After the service, we checked out the Christmas decorations in the town of Imus and of course to taste it’s puto bumbong.

As a general rule of thumb, the longer the line, the best food it is. So we lined up where everyone is lining up and it’s definitely the best in town.

Food & Nature Tripping in Bohol

Ricky — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:26:35 +0000

We left Cebu at 12:30 in the afternoon of December 12, 2008. After almost 2 hours of bumpy ride at SuperCat, we arrived at the Port of Tagbilaran City in Bohol where Gonio (the Driver) was waiting to bring us to our accomodation.

Rey our travel agent has reserved a room for us at the Alona Kew White Beach Resort in Panglao Islands in Bohol, the resort is a stone throw away from the beach front of Alona Beach.

The site was good & not to mention the fresh seafoods that are readily available, the resort personnel were kind enough to cook this fresh Lobster for us, together with clam soup & grilled pork belly, the dinner was more than I could wish for.

The next morning was our schedule for nature tour around Bohol. First stop was the Blood Compact Memorial Site, our tour guide/driver Joel was kind enough to take our photos during the tour.

Next stop was the Baclayon Church, this church was established by the Jesuits Priests Juan De Torres & Gabriel Sanchez in November 17, 1596.

The current church was built using corals (& egg) was built in 1717, this explains the whiteness of the church’ walls.

On the way, we passed by the Bolo & Nipa makers of Lo-ay, along the road, large plantation of rice & nipa tree is a common view.

Just before we reached the Chocolate Hills, we passed by the 2 kilometer road that belongs to the Bilar Man-Made Forest, this forest was conceptualized & implemented by former Governor Lito Chatto in the 50′s where he mobilized locals & boy scouts to plant Mahogany trees in an almost 900 hectares of land.

A few more kilometers of ride, we finally reached the Chocolate Hills viewing park.

The hills were breathtaking, I almost wanted to stay there longer, but it’s almost lunch time so we headed to take our lunch, but before that another stop was the Hanging Bridge.

It’s now time for lunch/cruise at Loboc River. The ride is an hour of beautiful scenery delicious food, the drink was not enough though.

After filling our tummy with food & our eyes with the beauty of the place, it’s time to see the smallest primate (yeps they are not monkeys) in the whole world, the Tarsier.

Joel brought us to some other destination that were not (officially) included in our trip i.e. Lo-ay Church & Python farm before bringing us to the souvenir shop where we bought some souvenirs (of course) & delicacies.

Day 3 was the Dolphin watching & Balicasag Marine sanctuary tour, just click the link to see the full story.

Once you stepped into the beautiful white beach of the Panglao Island would want you to stay there forever, the sunset is equally beautiful (although they say that the best sunset is at Doljo Point) sunset, OK let’s include the food.

Fourth day & we’re still not ready to leave this beautiful place, but we need to go back to our real world. We left Panglao Island just before lunch, we decided to make our last minute shopping & lunch at the Island City Mall (ICM) in Tagbilaran City before finally proceeding to the Tagbilaran Airport.

Philippine Airlines flight left Tagbilaran Airport at around 4:30PM of December 15, 2008, we arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 at around 6:30PM, the Captain announced that we need to turn around a little bit more since the traffic at NAIA is quite busy.

The whole trip was like a dream, a dream that when you wake up you’d like to sleep again & let it continue.