I love February!

Welcome to the first day of the month for lovers! Everybody is getting so excited that the environment is filled with hearts and love. I am a sentimental person and I do love seeing red and hearts around me. I definitely know what's with this month to feel it something special than the rest of the months of the year..it's Valentine's Month. Some might say that we don't have to wait for February to show love but personally this has become my personal favorite season of the year..and it is still important to us to celebrate it extraordinarily special.

Let me tell you some reasons why I love February.

My birth month. I am a February girl, an Aquarian (where in the new horoscope it says I’m already a Pieces..nahh! I still want to be an Aquarian!). Yes I was born in the month of February and I hate to say this but I am turning 32 (very soon!) this year. This is the first reason why I love February more. Although I do not used to throw a birthday party, I just make sure that I offer a thanksgiving mass for another miracle year for me.

Valentine’s month. We all know that every 14th of February we celebrate the Valentine’s Day. Everywhere is full of hearts and lovers are really blooming. My husband and I celebrate Valentine's Day (it's true). We are not “corny” but we do dating and do endless courting. I love how our relationship goes and we are very much in-love with each other like we used to feel before marriage. Now that we have two boys (10y/o and 9y/o), we feel that we love each other more.

Still talking about compatibility I just want to share this...my husband Gerry is also an Aquarian. We belong to the same zodiac sign..our names sound really blending (Gerry and Grace), we are both eldest, and we even finished the same course in college (but in different time and place). And by the way, I just want to recall that last Valentine, I surprised Gerry with a bouquet of roses courtesy of Island Rose which I won from Sulit.com.ph's Valentine Postcard Making Contest. You can read my story about last Valentine here. This Valentine...hhmm.. I am still thinking what to give him!

Chinese New Year bonus (Red Envelope). Yay! Do I have to share this? For those who do not know yet about “Chinese Red Envelope", here's a caption from About.com:

A red envelope (紅包, hóngbāo) is simply a long, narrow, red envelope with money in it. Traditional red envelopes are often decorated with gold Chinese characters like happiness and wealth. Variations of the red envelope include red envelopes with cartoon characters and red envelopes from stores and companies that contain coupons and gift certificates inside.

Chinese New Year often celebrates in the month of February (depends on Chinese Lunar calendar). This year, Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 3, and we will be having a week of holiday vacation from work (from Feb2~Feb7..yipe long vacation!). We feel so lucky and proud that our current company is giving us this "Red Envelope" (with money and gift certificate inside) every Chinese New Year. Are you asking me for how much is inside the envelope?...secret. It's a counter part of our 13th-month pay in the Philippines. And another thing, I forgot to tell you, I will be receiving a birthday $$ bonus for this month also, that's another benefit...so good, right?

Giveaways from our generous colleagues. Still in connection with Chinese New Year, some of our office mates give us some gifts for this season. And most of them are very generous enough, like us when we are celebrating our Christmas season. They also show and give love on Chinese New Year. Amanda, my husband's manager, gave us a set of Shiseido and Aquair (shampoo and body wash) products. I love these items so much because they are little bit expensive and as a matter of fact I can't afford to buy especially the travel kit from Shiseido.

Last Saturday, our former Taiwanese co-employee, Lance, met and treat us for a dinner. We ate duck hot-pot, just perfect for a very cold weather here. And before we parted that night he gave us a box of very sweet and delicious strawberries. By the way, this is Lance together with my husband Gerry after we had our dinner (..obviously I took the shot!).

So far, we don't have yet concrete plans where we to go this holiday vacation but we have some things we want to do. One of our priest in the church is inviting us to go somewhere in Ylan tomorrow so we are hoping for a good weather so that we can come. There is also an ongoing Floral Expo here in Taipei but I am afraid we can't go there because of being so crowded (I hate crowded place, actually). We also want to visit night markets and go on food trip. Another in our schedule is to go to Costco and do shopping (yipe!). The nearest Costco branch in our place takes an hour travel by bus, so we can only go there when we have enough time. We will also go to Taipei 101 (again!) to look around and to watch movie. Our company gave us free movie tickets, so we want to spend it this holiday.

Oh, how I love this month! I am filled with excitement with all these things coming my way. If only I could make the whole year as February, I would do**LOL...

Haizz, before I end up...Kung Hei Fat Choy, everybody! That's the only thing I could say...