Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings to everyone! Tomorrow is the start of the ‘BER’ months, which means in Pinas (for my husband) the start of the Christmas season, sing the carols and bring out the decors from storage. Let me be the first to greet you Happy Christmas!

Last June 29, there were 7 new priests ordained in the Diocese of Sacramento and 3 of them were Filipinos (43%). First week of August, one of the 3 - Fr. George Snyder, was presented during Mass as the new assistant-priest in our St. Mel’s parish. He introduced himself as follows: “I come from the Philippines. You might be wondering about my name and my appearance. My father is mixed German, American, and Spanish, while my mother is pure Filipino and I look exactly like my mother . . . ..” he grew up in Vallejo, CA. Later, after Mass, people queued up to greet him, Sean and I ‘blessed’, he greeted us ‘kumusta kayo’ and spoke fluent Filipino. I learned his folks are from Cavite, Tirona-Tuazon family. Since then, he has been regularly celebrating the 8:30 A.M. Mass, with his good singing and profound homilies. We feel like we are at Sto. Domingo church, so at home. God is so great! Thus, in addition to our monthly Opus Dei activities, I am so blessed to have this enriched spiritual environment.

I usually culminate my day by watching interesting shows on television. I watch American Idol, So you think you can dance, Dancing with the stars, Larry King Live, among others. I am always amazed at how the contestants are so alive and energetic, especially the women having those greatly-shaped bodies. I am moved to at least aspire to have a similar shape with those girls, like Sabra of ‘Dance’ (the ultimate winner)! She is small but she has this athletic type of body; hence, I always go to the clubhouse to do some exercise such as cardio work-out on the treadmill for 30 minutes so that I would be like Sabra, Kelly Ripa (of Live Regis and Kelly), or Angelina (my role body models). Likewise, I regularly join the group doing aerobics. Our instructor is very lively and energetic, and what amazes me most is that even if she is now 8 months pregnant (her baby is due on Sept. 18), she still jumps around, lift weights and do whatever to keep her body in shape. She has been our instructor for the past 10 months and intends to continue doing so until end of August. These are the types of people who inspire me to work hard to help maintain my health. Especially because of recent Flip visitors, I have a lot of Filipino foods in my fridge right now such as sinigang, kare kare with bagoong, embutido, dinuguan, etc. all of these fattening food, of course I eat along with my son Sean, but because food here is really abundant, it is so difficult fighting the temptation to indulge. And so in order for me to maintain my weight, I balance it with a good amount of exercise.

Summer will soon be over so we have to maximize the use of our other clubhouse amenities – the swimming pool, jacuzzi, spa, so Sean and I go there 2x a week – oh how relaxing! In the early morning on week-ends around 8am, when most are still asleep, no one else is using the spa and the 3 pools, thus we have exclusive use, it feels like you own the entire complex. Somehow the ambience is similar to being at Tagaytay Highlands. The pool is well maintained, the air is unpolluted like in Tagaytay up in the mountains. The big difference is that while we have to drive 2 hours to Tagaytay, these amenities are just 100 meters walk from our home. I do about an hour swimming - backstrokes, freestyle, or just float around, enjoying our masterplanned community facilities – life is beautiful! The fall season is coming soon, so we take advantage swimming twice a week since the pools and spa are located outside the main clubhouse. Once the cold season is here, the pools will be closed and we will be limited to indoor facilities and exercises. Swimming is a good exercise as it works your whole body, improving cardiovascular conditioning, muscle strength, endurance, posture, and flexibility at the same time. Here are some photos of our outdoor activities.

Last August 10, Thelma Tan-Gee (my former office-mate at NAPOCOR, Pinas) and family visited and had lunch at home. The 6 of them (she, her husband Terry, son Terence, sister and her two children) were on their way 3-day vacation to Lake Tahoe. Wish they had a great time in Tahoe!

Thanks for God’s Graces! Let us continue to pray for our country and people - Peace and Joy to You. God Bless us all!!!

Much love and Best Regards!!!
SUSAN BG