good NEWS

there are many things i love about living in the bay area (close enough to SF to call it my  hometown)...the beautiful bridges, the fabulous food, the diverse neighborhoods...and believe it or not, the liberal thinking (even for a conservative me!).


but this news which broke out several months ago made me shake my head and say out loud, ''what the eff are they thinking...and what will be next?"


ok...sometimes, people take things too far.  this is going one step too far...it's annoying.  it's like the people who thought about it just thought about it for the sake of being controversial, for the sake of being mentioned in the news as , 'the first city in the united states to put such measure on the ballot.'


really, wtf?????

ODM on HAL

i think my motivation for blogging is going on vacation....


we booked a vacation in november to celebrate my dear friend, claire's 'dirty thirty' as she calls it.  i don't think there will be anything dirty about it really...we're all pretty conservative...except chel...she's not so conservative.  hahaha!  (she does not read this blog so i can say that).  


for claire's 30th birthday, most of the gang will be going on.....

A CRUISE!

the itinerary

i'm more excited about the company than the cruise, really.  the last time i went on vacation with my friends was in 2004.  they have all gone on trips together but since i got married in 2005, then had a baby in 2006...well, that limits the time you get to spend with your friends.  now that michelle is bigger, we can take her with us pretty much anywhere!


when claire first brought up the idea of the cruise, paul's response was, 'i would love to go on a cruise with friends...'  naisip ko, 'yey!  he doesn't need me to convince him anymore!' but then we found out the cruise is departing from florida so that means we have to pay extra for airfare...the cruise itself isn't very expensive, but with the airfare, we're paying double.  


so i told paul that i will bake pies like crazy to pay for the vacation and he said, 'ok!' 


i booked the airline tickets first because airfare always goes up and scouted for the best deal on the cruise.  we saved $200 by going with a travel agent vs booking directly with holland america.


we will be pulling michelle out from school for a week and we will all get to enjoy some sunshine in the caribbean this fall!


sama kayo!!!

a busy last month and a half

it has been a month and a half since my last post.  i've been busy with work and a few other stuff that i just haven't found time to write anything.


june was filled with activities...mostly baseball games really.  it's like i was at the ballpark every week and june..but i'm not complaining.  i'm not the biggest baseball fan out there but i truly enjoy watching the games and being amongst all the giants fans out there.  paul is really into baseball (all kinds of sports really) and he's getting michelle into baseball.  he's taught her how to read the scoreboard and knows when to cheer.  buster posey is her favorite baseball player and she was really bummed that he's out for the season.  paul got michelle a pink baseball glove and a lightweight baseball so they can play catch. 


on 4th of july weekend, we took a drive up to portland to visit gracious, jay and jairus.  it was nice to see them again.  It has been a year since paul left portland for the bay area and it was our first time back in the northwest since the move.  we also went to crater lake which really is one of the most beautiful sights i have ever seen.  even imagining it now makes me go, 'wow!' in my head. 

my next 'project' is to prepare for michelle's 5th birthday.  i wanted to take her to disney land for her birthday but she didn't want to go.  she asked a party with her friends instead.  i think we found a place for her birthday, just need to visit the place and make the reservation and we should be good to go.  she also wanted a 'cat in the hat' themed birthday so that's what we're going to do.  i've been scouring the internet for ideas and i'm seeing a lot of cute little centerpieces and things we can do for the party.  budget will be small.  =D  i don't like throwing extravaggant parties...when she turns 18, it will be a whole different story though!  i will give michelle the debut i never got! haha!  (i have 13 years to save up).

Family Hawaii Picture Slideshow

day 5 in oahu

lazy day...very lazy day (read: short post).  we had nothing planned but to lounge by the pool and the beach today...our last full day in oahu. 

we discovered the 3rd pool in the resort complete with tunnels and waterfalls (less windy and less crowded too.  why did we have to discover you this late in our trip? 

paul and daddy went on another trip to ono seafood all the way in honolulu today to buy more poke.  yes, the poke is THAT good!  truly ONO (delicious)!

day 4 in oahu

jetlag's just about overcome with only 2 days left in hawaii.  isn't that tragic?


we woke up 'late' today (around 7 am) because we were all exhausted from the trip to pcc yesterday.  instead of heading to pearl harbor as originally planned, we stayed at the hotel in the morning then went to my dad's friend's house in honolulu for lunch.  after lunch, we made a quick stop at the swap meet (flea market) to look for a ukulele.  paul wanted to buy one since last year and he was advised by the concierge here at the hotel that the swap meet would be one of the more affordable places to look.  he found what he was looking for, hindi nga lang inexpensive in my mind pero i know that paul really likes it and it's something he would actually use...the ukulele he got is a nice, rosewood ukulele and a bright pink one for michelle.  paul said he's going to teach michelle to play.  he's given up teaching me to play the guitar (even if he knows i can play a little) because i give up when i need to use all my fingers to press on the chords.  kahit na 4 lang ang strings ng ukulele, give up parin ako.  magkakakalyo kamay ko no?  (oo maarte ako! masakit kaya magkakalyo!)


anyway, we are the first time honolulu visitors who have never been to waikiki beach.  it was in the itinerary i planned originally pero kasi wala rin sa plano yung pag punta namin sa bahay ng friend ni daddy.  i don't know why i'm not to keen on spending time in waikiki and downtown honolulu.


anyway, after the swap meet, we went to lanikai beach over on the east side of the island.  sabi nila, this is the best beach in hawaii DAW.  well, so far, i would have to agree.  after seeing several beaches in maui and here in oahu, this is indeed the most beautiful.  it's a pain to park here though because there is NO PARKING!  good luck looking for a place to park on the one way streets near the beach.  but once you get to there, wow!  the sand is fine like the sand in boracay and the two islands not far from the beach make it all the more picturesque.  
it was crowded today though and there was no shade to park our bums while we stare at the beautiful water.  sandali lang kami nagbabad sa tubig then back to the hotel we went.  


it's almost 11 pm and i'm still awake.  wala na nga akong jetlag.  

day 3 in oahu - polynesian cultural center

our third day in oahu was a trip to the north shore.  first, we went to laniakea beach to look for turtles but we didn't see any =( so we just strolled the beach and watched the big waves of the north shore.  it was a little overcast in the morning and the rain stopped our beach trip short.  on our way to giovanni's shrimp truck for lunch, we stopped by a fruit stand and bought some mangoes and guava.  ang sarap ng bayabas!  kung may bagoong lang kami, solve na solve sana.  


we arrived at giovanni's at a little before 11 so there wasn't a lot of people yet.  we ordered the shrimp scampi that was swimming in loads of butter and garlic.  it was really good but it could use a lot less butter.  i feel like it would still taste as good if they didn't use a stick of butter for each order.  


after lunch, we went to the polynesian cultural center.  i was very hesitant to take this tour in the beginning,  primarily because of the price.  the package that we bought was the ali`i luau package.  given all the performances that we saw, it was worth it.  it was a nice cultural experience and the food at the luau was pretty good (the choices were limited though).  my dad, who is incredibly hard to please, was very impressed with everything that he saw.  he even gave a standing ovation to the performers at the 'ha breath of life' show.  


we spent the entire day at pcc and we were all exhausted after the long day.  it was a surefire way to get rid of jetlag.  now, we are more or less on hawaii time.