Love is where to find it

Sunday, February 12, 2012

AGNES Taborada was based in the United States when she came to Cebu on a holiday in 1998. In one of the parties she attended, she met Gregg Huettel, an American furniture designer working for a furniture exporting company based in Cebu. Little did she know he would be her future husband.

After the end of her holiday, she went back to the United States where Gregg soon had a chance to see her again. He went to the United States for a furniture show in 1999, and he got acquainted with her family. She also met his family.

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When she decided to come back to Cebu, she knew it was for good. She and Gregg got married on Sept. 9, 2000, and got married again, post-9/11, on Oct. 28, in the United States because not all members of their families could be at their wedding in Cebu.

For the US wedding, Agnes had to do everything herself, including the flowers.

Whether here or abroad, Agnes says she has never felt racial discrimination and her life with Gregg has been smooth sailing. They trust each other; they don’t fight (except about household tasks!). They now have two children, a boy, Tyler, and a girl, Allison, age 9 and 6.

A year after they got married, Agnes said they set up their own company, Asian Links, a furniture design company.

Aya Garcia, a Cebuana architect, was working toward a master’s degree in architecture and urban design in Columbia University in New York when a common friend introduced Larry Shlachter to her in 1998. He was working with Bozell Worldwide, an advertising agency in New York. After two years of dating, they knew they were meant for each other and got married in West Orange, New Jersey.

When she gave birth to their first child, Anna, now five years old, she realized that she needed family support in the care of the baby as both she and Larry were working.

They came back to Cebu to have better care for Anna. She had clients in the United States whom she could still serve while living in Cebu, communication technology being what it is.

The couple also “outsourced” wedding albums: their photographer contacts in New York sent the pictures to be made into an album here in Cebu.

But with the US economic crisis, those two ventures fizzled out. And so after the birth of their second child, Ari, they set up Tablea Chocolate Cafe, offering tsokolate (hot chocolate) and various other concoctions and confections based on the pure, pressed, roasted cacao beans for which the cafe is named.