BIG BED

The big bed was delivered yesterday. Last night I found myself staying on the right edge of it. Big big big bed.

Celebrating May 24 on May 27

Kahit na wala si Bunz sa Pinas at kahit na May 27 na nung Sunday, we still celebrated Bunny's birthday at one of her favorite coffee shops. According to Chet (officially "Ma'am Cristina" within Figaro premises) , the cashier also had his birthday last May 24 ("What a co-accidence"! -- ika nga ni Bunz).

Happy birthday ulit, Bunny!

Lunch with Super Sprain and Goggle Girl

Since Julie couldn't drive at night nor go somewhere far from her house due to the condition of her eyes, and I couldn't go walk in a mall or climb stairs just yet, we ladies had lunch at The Thai Kitchen at Tomas Morato in Quezon City.

Although I haven't been to that resto for a long time, not since something bad happened to me there 7 years go (but that's another story), I do remember that the food there is really good. And it still is! What's more, they had a special promo that day -- Thai Buffet for only P199! Super liit nga lang ng chicken pandan nila, as in bite size. Nevertheless, dahil sa laging nirereplenish ang laman ng buffet, nabusog naman kaming lahat.

And yeah, Chet was wearing a skirt, which prompted us to tease her -- "Chet, in love ka siguro!" Hehehe.

My Right Foot

So my right foot is still a bit swollen... and multi-colored.

I have decided to post just these two pictures of my foot, just in case there might be imaginative multi-tasking people who might be eating while reading this.

And yes, medyo wala na akong maisip pag-usapan sa blog na ito. Hehehe.

a fitting send-off

A unique funeral for a unique individual.

Instead of the wearing black pins people usually wore at funerals, my sister, cousins-in-law, my aunt's co-teacher and I made bear-pins using purple ribbons (note: my aunt requested the color purple to be used at her wake) and cut-out bear foams (note: she loved to collect anything with bears on it), and encouraged everyone at my aunt's funeral to wear them.

Since my aunt was a kid at heart, we asked everyone to write notes for my aunt. The notes were written using crayons (of course) and were tied to 25 white balloons. On my signal (I was the self-appointed photographer), family and friends released the balloons and watched some of them.... get caught in the branches of the nearby tree. In the meantime, while everyone was looking up at the balloons, my usual lampa self tried to get good shots of the balloons... and sprained my foot in the process (long embarrassing story).

Ignoring my painful sprain, I was still able to take a few nice pictures of my nephews and the young inaanaks of my aunt as they played in the garden. Even took a picture of the signboard in the garden that my 3-year-old nephew Curt said he saw my aunt fixing on the first night of her passing.

All in all, it was a good send-off, despite the rain, the jeep of her co-teacher breaking down as she was leaving UP to go to the crematorium, and my stupidity a.k.a. my sprained foot.

My ninang was Peter Pan

One of the reasons I sometimes still feel like a kid at my age is because I grew up with Auntie Kris -- my ninang who was, to me, like Peter Pan. And my cousins, siblings and I were her Lost Boys (she actually made us dress up as Indians once when we were kids). Now that she's left us, I just want to thank her for:

Making us love music enough for us to enjoy singing lazy summer afternoons away as she and Uncle Mar played the guitar for us. We will never forget the silly and yet catchy songs from the 60s, nor the witty and brilliant children's songs she and Uncle Mar composed.

The Christmases and New Years that were filled with laughter from the games she created so us kids won't get bored while waiting for the clock to strike 12. Although my sister and I took over the game-planning a long time ago, she was the one who still thought of what we should all wear during New Year's Eve (e.g. what color to wear, which hat to put on, etc.).

Inspiring us to dress-up our house during the holidays --- instilling in us the idea that a house can never be too Christmas-y enough for our whole family.

Encouraging us to love books by letting us browse through the tons of books she used to bring home from work (she worked for a publisher and a bookstore years ago).

Showing us how important it is to protect and be there for the people you love.

Letting us be adventurous in the food that we eat. I will never forget the chinese sunflower seeds she made me get addicted to last year.

Now that Auntie Kris is gone, I'd like to think that she simply went back to the real Neverland, the place where people never grow old. Some of us call that place "heaven".

When Spidey channels Daredevil

I finally saw Spiderman 3 early last week. There were a lot of good parts. Still loved the special effects. The OBB still impressed me. What bugged me about Part 3 was that there were just toooo many villains, ergo, tooooo many substories, ergo, toooo much corn in the dialogue. For a moment or two, Spidey 3 reminded me of the superhero flick I absolutely wished I never paid P100 to see on the big screen --- "Daredevil" starring Ben Affleck.

Baby's Day Out

Life really does imitate art sometimes. Remember the movie "Baby's Day Out"? It was about this baby who crawled his way all over New York City. Well, my 3-year-old nephew did his own version of the story last Tuesday.

My cousin Coco told this hilarious and unbelievable tale when we met up at the ICU waiting area of East Avenue Medical Center to visit our Auntie Kris.

When Coco got home last Tuesday night (wife Elaine was still in the office), their yaya told him that young Curt went missing for a few hours that day. While desperately trying to avoid either a heart attack or a yaya-homicide, Coco calmly talked to Curt and asked him how his day went.

According to Curt, while the yaya was putting baby Hans to sleep, he wanted to buy a Zesto juice drink. And when he found P2 in his dad's old pants in the laundry, he went out of the house (according to the yaya, she opened the door and assumed that Curt will not go beyond the gate). Smart Curt was able to open the gate and went to the first sari-sari store. The tindera told him that P2 wasn't enough. He walked over to the second store where he was told the same thing. Not about to give up, he reached the bakery near the village gate. Alas, P2 was still not enough. So he decided to sit on the sidewalk for awhile. When the lola who owned the bakery came out to sweep the sidewalk and asked Curt what was wrong, he told her: "I am lost. My dad is dead." (Backstory: Coco and Curt were playing "baril-barilan" that morning. Coco got tired so he told Curt that he was hit and was already dead. By the way, all of Coco's kids understand Tagalog but prefer to speak in English).

Alarmed by Curt's statement, the lola asked him a few more questions.

Lola: "Ano pangalan ng tatay mo?"

Curt: "Coco."

Lola: "Eh ang nanay mo?"

Curt: "Elaine."

Lola: "Saan ba ang bahay niyo?"

Curt: "Cainta." (backstory: Their family moved from Cainta to Marikina just a few weeks ago.)

So the lola called the barangay tanod and turned over Curt to them. The barangay people then loaded Curt into the barangay-owned jeep (Note: Curt told his dad that he rode in a jeepney with no horses on it --- so Coco guessed the jeep was an "owner") and went all the way to Cainta Municipal Hall. They looked at the poster of "missing people" there and didn't find Curt's name nor his picture. Finally, they decided to go back to where Curt was found thinking that maybe his parents are now looking for him there.

When Curt saw the bakery, he exclaimed, "That's where we buy our Zesto!". The barangay tanod thought that was a clue. So they went farther down the street.

Upon reaching the village guardhouse, Curt pointed it out and said "I don't live there!" (Backstory: Coco scared Curt once that he will live in the guardhouse if he wasn't a good boy). Since it seemed like another good clue, the barangay people continued to go down the street.

Finally, Curt pointed at an apartment and shouted, "That's my house!!!". And so Curt was happily turned over to his yaya (who claimed to be frantically looking for him).

After Curt told his dad about his adventure, Coco contemplated with the idea of shaving off all the hair from the yaya's pretty little head. He nixed that idea and is now looking for a yaya replacement.

Before the night was over, Coco bought Curt what he was looking for all day -- a Zesto.

Miz Potter

SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen the movie!

My sis says she wants to watch HARRY Potter than MISS Potter, so I watched the latter's dvd all by myself. I liked the film. The fact na it runs for only 1 1/2 hours is perfect since I think they really only featured the most interesting parts of author Beatrix Potter's life. Too bad Ewan McGregor played the part of the publisher who died too soon, kaya kaunti lang ang screentime niya. I love his chemistry with Renee ever since I saw them in Down with Love. Scene-stealerEmily Watson looked so old in the movie.

After watching the movie I had a momentary urge to dig up some watercolor and paint something. Hehehe.

happy happy happy

Happy Mother's Day, Mother Lily!

dinner with the doctors

It was almost exactly one year since my highschool friends and I saw Dr. Richelle. Good thing her hubby Dr. Evan had another convention at the PICC. Yehey! We planned to meet at 7 p.m. at the bayside restos at the MOA (Mall of Asia to those who have never been there) since the good doctors were staying at the Manila Hotel. Got there at 7:30 due to heavy EDSA traffic (I think I counted 3 police-escorted motorcades of politicians who were probably doing last-minute campaigning for Monday's elections. Those guys will so not get my vote.) Aileen said they were seated at the al fresco dining area of Gerry's Grill but for some reason, I had a hard time spotting them. Probably because like me, they all looked a wee bit different -- different in a good way. Hehehe.

After dinner (the docs volunteered to pick up the tab, thanks!) we went to Manila Hotel so the docs could give us their pasalubongs. The hotel lobby and elevators were mysteriously jampacked with people wearing traditional Filipino costumes. We were wondering what the occasion was but no one dared to ask a single "Maria Clara" or "Ibarra". As we squeezed our contemporary-looking selves into one of the elevators, the elevator overload alarm sounded off so Evan got off. We didn't notice that Richelle joined him until the doors were just about to close. Good thing Richelle yelled "15th floor!!!" at us, otherwise Aileen, Thirdy and I wouldn't know which floor to get off! Hehehe. Kaya nag-kodakan na lang kami while waiting for the docs.

Richelle and Evan's hotel room was filled with stuff they bought from the MOA! There was just so much stuff that Evan assembled a balikbayan box for easier shipping. We laughed ourselves silly when Thirdy realized that the Manila Hotel trivia (e.g. "Since 1912 pa yung hotel") Richelle told us earlier actually came from the room's TV cabinet, and when Evan and Thirdy came up with hilarious theories as to why there was a single strand of "tingting" (coconut leaf stem) on the bed when Richelle and Evan first arrived a few days ago.



Hay naku, it really is a lot of fun to see friends I've known for almost 20 years.

finally, a nice chick flick

Just saw Jennifer Garner's new movie, "Catch and Release", on DVD. I liked it! Simple lang ang story. It kinda reminds me of a chick lit book I really loved -- P.S. I Love You (by Irish author Cecelia Ahern), which incidentally is also being made into a film starring Hilary Swank. Anyway, Catch has a lot of things going for it -- a contrived yet witty (and not-so-mushy) script, great locations, a nice musical score, a good-looking cast who can actually act, Juliette Lewis in a really funny role, Kevin Smith in an even funnier role, and the calm atmosphere of the whole film. Ladies, this film is worth one bowl of popcorn. Trust me.

Missing Spidey

Those who really know me might be surprised to learn that I haven't seen Spider-man 3 yet. No, I am not busy. No, I still have some money left in my wallet for cinema tickets. No, I'd really really really like to see the movie. For some reason, I just haven't seen the movie. Strange.

I love this place

One of my favorite places in Laguna is Caliraya Lake. I love the fresh air and the breathtaking view. Super sarap talaga tumambay kahit sa gilid lang ng kalsada...

Kamayan sa Cavinti farm

Just when my UP friends thought na tapos na ang mega-kainan, my parents made sure they got to experience how to eat Filipino-style -- back to basics talaga -- mega-kamayan with matching banana stalks and leaves. Believe it or not, naubos ang food. Hehehe.

Bawal ang diet sa Pagsanjan

My friends who have been to Pagsanjan know how my parents love to serve yummy food nonstop. These are some of the things my M.A. friends got to enjoy last weekend, courtesy of my parents and my older cousin, who did all the cooking (the rice cakes were from Aling Emma's pasalubong store, of course).