Oh no, 3-0!

Why hello there blog world!
Of the many times I've said "wee-bee me" and then do a long pause in between posts, you can tell this blog has been left on it's own. Dead and not running! But here I am again to give it some kick. And what a better way to kick it off than to start with the details of my own birthday, right?

The big 3-0w.
Yes, I'm hitting the tip off the calendar soon. Ouch!

Like in the past, my birthday fell on a weekday--Monday, when I am scheduled to work. So, I did. Friends came by and gave me kisses,hugs and nice gifts. Some called/texted and gave me wishes over the phone. My sister came by, too. Mom, well.. she calls me about ten thousand times a day anyway, and said she owes me a good gift this year for being away on my birthday :)... see, it was the normal birthday I get each year. Except for some lines that came frequent that day which I founnd amusing. Here are some:

Nel: ano ba tanda mo na, wala pa bang baby? I'm so ready for the baby shower!
Mon: WTF! the big C's eating me up! hurry and make one now so I can "ninang" before I die!
Alicia: Ok, I'm tired of waiting. You guys are too slow!
My pharamacist: DOB: 4-28... hey, happy birthday! babies coming soon???
Phuong: Hey, I don't see you at the gym anymore... you pregnant?

O di ba? These are just some. Trust me, it felt like it went on a daily basis from then on. So, I've developed a smart way to answer them naman... "no babies, yet. These love handles are my collection since birth"

Overall, it was another birthday spent well. Actually, better! After all, the husband seemed to have planned it very well behind me. He had these pre-birthday, on-the-day and post-birthday gifts for me!

Pre-birthday gift:

Charging station from Bed, Bath and Beyond... He knows I'm dying to get one for the longest time so I can get our phones and other bedside electronics organized. But the store is always out! These things are selling like hotcake here. He bought it on-line for me.

On-the-day gift:

Hugs and Kisses from ProFlowers that he had delivered at work to surprise me that morning.... aww! He ended the day up by taking me to P.F. Chang's Bistrofor dinner



and to top it all off, my post-birthday gift (i should say gifts!):

Montorgueil GM and Monogram checkbook to match!
Since the big move and all the home furnishing expenditures, I've been on purse ban for a period of time. I had to warn him that he just turned the switch back on, hahaha! On the same day he got me those, I got myself this:

I couldn't resist the good sale goin' on at Macy's, LOL!

The purse addict is officially BACK!

5 Things

Kahiya. I've been soo out of the blog world too long that I didn't even notice that good friend Yevka had tagged me since Feb. LOL. Well, I have a very good excuse for not being in the scene-- the big MOVE's finally happened! Yes. We now have a small, cozy place we can temporarily (since it's an apartment) call our own :) I am officially a wife! Well let me save the rest of the story and everything else in a different post. Meantime, let me do this long overdue tag from Yevka

5 things found in my bag
- 2 cellphones
- 1 wallet and 1 wristlet
- Kikay kit
- car and house keys
- badge for work


5 things found in my wallet
- ID's
- 3 debit cards and 1 credit card... i prefer not to have cash
- discount cards to some of my favorite stores
- tiny rosary and novena booklet from my sisters
- hubby's photo

5 things I’ve always wanted to do
- read more
- go back to the gym. i am seriously wasting my membership.. maybe i can pull the husband one of these days :)
- travel more with my husband
- own a house
- spend a day at a spa

5 things I’m currently into
- shopping for our new place... it's a tedious task but it's been fun doing it together with my hubby
- Contemporary furnishings
- Constant decluttering... well it's mostly the husband doing this lately
- oooohh... this gourmet tinapa and tuyo i always get from Blue Kitchen in Rockwell and of course my Bibimbap!
- purging my 2004 files at home and at work.

5 people to tag
no one in particular.... if you've been by, snag it away baby!

The Happy Worker

The newest addition to America's work force, me!

Monday: Orientation day. I was there as early as 6AM eventhough it doesnt start till 8.



Tuesday: First day at work. My shift starts at 8am and ends at 4:30pm. Guy named Jose was to train me for a whole week. Gave me a tour of the whole hospital and the up's and down's of our work.

Wednesday: Same as the day before but with some extras. I'm starting to get the hang of what I am supposed to do. But instead of the patients giving me a hard time, it was the nurses and doctors. But that's part of it.

Thursday: Valentines day. Work again. Anna and I went out for an early dinner since it was too late to make reservations at this Vietnamese restaurant. Our date ended up at the ER because Anna ate shrimps to which she had a severe allergic reaction to. Which was kind of odd because she was never allergic to it. She exactly looked like Will Smith in the movie Hitch. Her face was all swollen. Up until now, she occasionally experiences itching.

Friday: My last training day at the echo department. I really have to thank Jose for giving me a good training. And Mon just gave us a very special post wedding/post Christmas/pre-Birthday gift for me and Anna/post-Valentines/pre-house(or apartment)warming gift and all the pre and post that we can think off. We love you Mon!!!


Saturday: DMV exam. Went there in the morning and passed the written test. Had the little jitters that I might not pass. Went to our apartment to fix our stuff. Our new bed and dinette set was delivered... we're loving our new Primopedic mattress!

Sunday: Cleaning. We're still moving most of our stuff to our new apartment. Tired but it's worth it. Having a place to call our own and living the real life. And tomorrow, it starts again. We're off to work, happy.

Green is Clean

While out buying essential stuff, we've accumulated dozens of plastic bags from different malls and groceries. Although we often use them as liners for the trash bins, were not helping at all. Enter the eco bags or what most people call here, green bags. We decided to get three of each bags from our most frequented stores like Target, Walmart, Ralphs, Marshall's and Trader Joe's


Target


Walmart


Ralphs


Marshalls


Trader Joe's

My first swap meet

It's like PI with a twist. We were there as early as 10am on a saturday morning. It was really cold and the weather forecast said it was to rain midday, but the place was already packed.

It was a huge parking lot were vendors brought different things at the back of their cars such as used electronics, power tools and furnitures, etc, etc to sell. There were also tons of new stuff that would lure you into buying, either because it's cheap or really, really nice, eventhough you don't really need it.


We enjoyed the super carne asada nachos (that's ground beef, melted cheese, salsa and guacamole with jalapeno!). Although we had a budget of 50 dollars, we just spent half of it. We bought $10 Chargers stickers for our car and a $15 guava plant for Ninang Lynn and Ninong Ato's new home. It was a day well spent.

Crossing Over

Heavy traffic at the SLEX, the never ending clatter of sidewalk vendors, the roaring noises of the tricycles, the echoing shouts of the “magbabalut” at night and tons of stuffs that makes me a Filipino is now thousands of miles away.

I’ve been to several countries before but this time, I’m here to stay. I was excited, not because everything is new to me, but the fact that were finally together after years of waiting.

Anyways, on our way to the airport, my mom, sister and aunt was with us to see us leave. Of course, when we said our goodbye’s tears eventually poured. We had our last ube ice cream before we boarded our plane headed for Seoul.


We only had 2 hours to spend inside the airport at Incheon before heading to LA. We took several pictures and browsed at the duty free shops. We then decided to have dinner early and ate at Welly&. It’s a Korean restaurant that Anna’s been waiting to dine at for so many years but wasn’t able to until that day. We then boarded our plane bound for LA.




We arrived in LAX at one in the afternoon. Right after the bus ride from the tarmac, I saw a sign welcoming visitors and decided to take a picture. Fortunately for us, we already took a snap shot until a customs officer appeared and told us to stop what we were doing. We then headed for immigration and presented all the necessary documents. Again another break, everything went smooth and the customs officer did not give me a hard time and welcomed me to America.


We decided to drive from LA to SD and so we rented a car. Unfortunately, the rental company that saved us a car was “out of cars”. We then called Budget and again luckily for us, they had a PT Cruiser on the lot for less than $70. I was a bit skeptic at first because we have 2 pieces of huge luggage, a hand-carry, 2 backpacks and of course-- 2 BB’s!! How could all of our things fit in the small PT Cruiser?! But the impossible happened and it all went right.


And the 2 hour drive to San Diego was all set to go.


It’s been more than a week now, after a few days of flu, jetlag, tons of stuff that needs to be taken out from the luggage, non stop going thru and fro from the mall to buy essential stuff and familiarizing myself with the confusing wide streets, I, among all the Filipino’s here in the US made another unforgettable experience.

And I have crossed over to start anew.