kat's scribbles

my new home!

2007-06-17T20:45:00.000-04:00

So I have officially moved! Please update your links with my new e-address!

So long Blogger...we've had many fond memories and I'll definitely miss you!

spider-cali-band-a-listic-expiallidocious!

2007-06-11T10:40:00.000-04:00

So some cool and not-so-cool things have been happening to me since my last post. Here's an example of something not-so-cool: Yesterday, I backed my new car into a pole!! #!$!@&! Gah! Gah! It's official: I.Am.A.Total.Idiot. I've been driving since I was 16 years old and this has got to be a first. I was pulling out of a parking spot and heard a big *thump!* I honestly did not see the huge-ass wooden pole behind me! Now, there are a bunch of tiny white scratches on the left side of my bumper. I tried to wax it off last night, but alas, the evidence is still there. Well, on the bright side, there is no dent! *sheepish grin*

So here's some cool goings-on in my life since my last post:

The hubs and I went to movies for the first time post-baby: We went to see Spiderman 3 on IMAX no less! We had a lunch date the day after our anniversary. We went to eat at Legal Seafoods (no fancy dinner at Bouley like our first anniversary) and then caught the flick. It was a great day --the movie wasn't an A+ but it was still entertaining to me. I can go on and on about how the storyline sucked (I've read my fair share of comic books), but that's a different post altogether. I'm just happy to watch a movie with the hubs! He knows I like going to the movies and that's something we can't do anymore post-baby unless there's some strategic planning involved.
I'm going back to Cali: San Francisco, to be precise! We're going there for a wedding (wedding number 3 of 7!) and decided just to make a whole holiday out of it. I'll be gone July 6 - July 10th and will be celebrating my 31st birthday over there. It should be fun! The one and only time I went to San Fran was back when I was 14 years old; the only things I remember are going to Chinatown, driving down that crooked road, and my little brother getting chicken pox. This time, I'll definitely take advantage of what San Fran has to offer. The best part is that my friend Karen will be meeting me up there!
A label is interested in my band! My bandmates and I are so excited because this label "expressed interest" in our band and is inviting us to go play for them. It's an indie label, but a label nonetheless and kind of a big deal for us! Perhaps my dream of becoming a rock star may come true after all *claps-hands-in-glee*...and if that doesn't work...

We're entering American Idol: The Band! We just recorded a show we did last night and we'll be sending our audition tape to them. Wish us luck!

And last but not the least...

I'm moving! *wink-wink* You'll definitely find out more details in just a couple of days ...so please check back here! Update: Here's a hint...I won't be packing any bags!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture:

Why you shouldn't let your mom cut your hair

happy 6th anniversary!

2007-06-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

Today is the 6th wedding anniversary for the hubs and I. I thought I'd "rerun" this post I wrote from June 1, 2005.

The True Story of How We Met and Other Curious Adventures: During the summer of 1997 (before the beginning of my junior year in college), my good friend Julie said "Kat, I have the perfect guy for you! His name is Mark and he’s good friends with my sister." Julie knew full well that I was already dating someone else (but she never did like him which is why she did a plug for Mark). As it turns out, Mark was the older brother of my friend Daryl who went to school with me. By then, Mark had already graduated from NYU and was already doing the whole career thing. I thought nothing of it and then actually met Mark at a party a few months after my conversation with Julie. Eventually, Mark started calling me and we would chat. I remember our first full-length conversation. He basically bragged about himself and of how content he was in life and of how he is so sure of himself…yadda, yadda, yadda. I remember hanging up and thinking "damn, what an arrogant bastard. I sooo do not like him." But he kept chasing me and calling me. I kept on talking to him and kept mum on the fact that I did have a boyfriend (who I was trying to get rid of –we were always on-again/off-again). I had assumed Julie told him at the very least, and to me, I just considered him to be a friend.

The Library Incident: One night, Mark asked me to go meet up with him and his friends. I really didn’t want to go out with him, nor did I want to just straight up and say "I’m not interested in you." Like I said, I considered Mark only as ‘friend-material.’ So I told him, "no thanks, but I really have to study. I have to go to the library." Mark said fine. Later that evening, I went out my then-bf and we decided to go play pool. Lo and behold, who did I see at the pool hall? Mark, of course, was there. I felt like such a fool. I was blatantly caught in a lie. I mustered all my courage, acted nonchalantly and went up to Mark to say hi. He coolly replied, "oh nice to see you here." I think I tried to save myself by saying something like "oh I finished studying already" but I don’t remember. After I got home, Mark called and we got into a heated argument over the phone. We fought as if we were already boyfriend and girlfriend. We talked and yelled at each other for more than an hour! After that incident, we didn’t talk to each other for a while.

The You-Kissed-Me Incident (aka The Throwing Up on His Shoes Incident): Fast forward a few months later. I believe during the winter, circa 1997, Mark and I saw each other again at a club called El Flamingo’s (which no longer exists). At that time, Mark was roomies Kay, a girl I started to hang out with from work. So Kay and I were doing shots at the bar when Mark strolls up. By then, I was already quite buzzed and we decide to do another shot of tequila. So we do a shot all together and I suddenly cross the line from very buzzed to very drunk. For some reason, Mark and I then start to kiss. For the record, he kissed me! (Though we argue to this day who really kissed who. I swear he kissed me!). After the kiss, a wave of nausea just shoots through my body and I promptly throw up on Mark’s shoe. Was it the tequila or the kiss? Hehehe…. Then this big bouncer guy comes up and yells at me for throwing up. The bouncer basically drags me off and kicks me out of the club sans jacket in the middle of winter. Nice Mark felt compelled to come with me, and basically watches over me as I continue to throw up by the dumpster outside the club. Eventually, I think Mark helps me get back in the club. I spend the rest of the night sitting on the floor of a bathroom stall as the world spins around me. I don’t know what happened to Mark that night. We don’t talk for a while.

The Matchbook Incident: Early November 1998 at (the now-defunct) Pageant Lounge. Mark’s birthday. I get there with my friend Julie and chat with our friends. Mark was there of course, and we start talking. He was still clearly very interested in me. I was too and we spend most of the night talking. As it was, I also found his other friend quite interesting as well. Funny thing was, each time I tried to talk to Mark’s friend, Mark would be at my side with a quickness! Mark and I basically flirted throughout the night as Mark gets progressively buzzed. Before I leave, I write down my number and gave it to Tony to give to the friend. I say bye to Mark as Julie and I get into a cab. Tony then shoves Mark in the cab with us and before you know it, he comes home with me. I told me, "well I’m calling your brother to come get you." Drunk Mark does not speak. So we get to my room, Mark passes out on the floor. I keep kicking him and telling him he was not staying. I call his brother Daryl to come get him. Daryl comes over, and Mark mumbles "I can’t get up." So Daryl asks him if he can just stay and I reluctantly agree. As soon as Daryl leaves, Mark gets up from the floor as if nothing happened, goes to the bathroom to take off his contacts, and then proceeds to sleep on my bed! I tell him, "you are not sleeping next to me!" He again pretends to fall asleep. So I wedge a pillow between us, hit the lights, and sleep. I promptly kick him out the next day. He apologizes, claims to not even remember how he got there, and then tells me he has the matchbook with my number on it. A week or so goes by and we don’t talk. He didn’t even call to apologize. For some reason, I find myself calling him (pity, maybe?). We talk. Towards the end of the conversation, I once and for all, agree to go on our first date together. The rest is history.

For the record, this is the true account of how it all happened.

Happy Anniversary my love!

how to pick up a mom

2007-05-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

Even while I was preggo, I was already aware of the “social landscape of new motherhood.” It's been mentioned in parenting magazines, and has been the subject of many a 'chick-lit' books. And what is that exactly? In a nutshell, new moms will expect to find themselves thrown back into a high school-like hierarchy of social status and new territory akin to that of the dating scene. Still not making sense? Let’s start with labels. There is the "high-end mom" = mom who has the latest hot stroller, the cool diaper bag, the latest educational toy, etc.; there is the "granola/earth mom” = mom only into organic foods, clothing, toys, etc. Or you can be a “hot mom” = a mom who has bounced back into shape, still wearing fashionable clothing and can balance a cappuccino on one hand and pushing a pram with the other. We're talking mom cliques. There are the die-hard breastfeeders who shun the formula moms, and SAHMs vs. working moms. There are definitely new associations you end up making –like making sure you set up playdates with kids of the same background as yours, be friends with moms who have the same parenting style as you, etc. It may not be as blatant as some magazines describe it, but you'll definitely notice it.

I do see this to a certain extent whenever I’m in the city with the baby. In the Upper East Side, there is a surplus of moms and nannies pushing Bugaboos (a stroller starting at $700) and nothing else. I see them in cafes chatting with one another, looking cool and posh. In the Village, I see more eclectic-mom types like myself, and so on. In my little neighborhood though, it’s not as common –yet. Moms in my area come in all shapes, sizes, and colors that they don't fit a specific niche. (Also, I haven’t really met any other moms that I associate with on a regular basis aside from the moms I’ve met in daycare.) So I can’t really comment on the types of moms out there. Nonetheless, I think moms are always on the lookout for other moms that they can bond with. When I’m at the playground, I definitely scout around to see which mom I can chat up. Likewise, I’ve been approached by other moms who try to pick me up.

One time, I was at our local playground (conveniently located at the end of my block) when this woman starts to chat me up. She was Chinese, probably about 5-10 years older than me, and had an 10-month old baby.

Her: Oh hello. How old is your child?
Me: He’ll be 12 months in two weeks.
Her: Wow, he’s walking already! Victoria (gesture to child in swing), can’t walk yet. When did he start walking?
Me: A little before he was 11 months old. He’s still very wobbly (and as if to demonstrate, rockstar baby trips and falls).
Her: Are you home? Or do you work?
Me: Oh I work, I just got out of work a little early. How about you?
Her: I work too, and she’s in daycare.
Me: Oh me too.
Her: Which daycare?
Me: Oh he’s in X daycare on 10th st.
Her: Oh where is that? Do they have a lot of white kids in there?
Me: Uhm..yeah, it’s pretty mixed.
Her: How much do you pay a week? Is it expensive? Are you able to afford it easily? Etc..

At that point, I got kinda weirded out by her personal financial questions, so I bow out of the conversation and turn to Jakey by saying “oh do you want to get on the slides now? Come on let’s go…” Since then, I’ve seen the mom around but I don’t think she remembers talking to me. I always see her chatting up other parents though!

I myself haven’t had the guts to approach other moms other than commenting on how cute their kid is and doing small talk. I think it’s really hard find other moms your age that a) have a child close in age to your child; and b) have the same interests as you. I'm currently trying to 'pick up' the mom of this cute kiddo that rockstar baby plays with in daycare. I haven't had a conversation with her yet (since she does her drop off/pick up earlier than I do); but since she dresses her baby kinda punk-y like sometimes, I keep thinking we'll get along.

I really wish my friends and I had kids at around the same time. We'd have built-in playdates and we already know we get along. A close friend I have with kids moved to Georgia (thanks Trish!) But at least there's Antonion (my friend Sol's baby) --I think by the time rockstar baby hits two, they can actually start playing with each other and actually realize it (as opposed to just staring at each other).

Until then, I'm still on the prowl. I have yet to see another mom wearing Vans with skulls on them or a shirt with a band’s name on it. Is that too much to ask? Should I put out a personal ad?

a crazy rockstar weekend...

2007-05-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

Despite my wanna-be rockstar leanings, I don't actually have a rockstar lifestyle. *gasp* But you all knew that. The past week, I actually had a semi-rockstar weekend complete with coming home at odd hours of the night, getting sick, passing out, and meeting random strangers! Oh. Yes.

Thursday, my band played at the Iron Monkey along with our friend's band, Kilsy. We played at around 10:45 pm and it was a great show. Kilsy, however, totally rocked it as she usually does. Her band is just amazing. Our bands have played together a few times and it's always a fun show. I was even kinda flirting with her drummer (well, flirting for me is saying "wow, you were great!" and then leaving. Ha!) Anyway, I recommend you check her out! By the time I got home, it was almost 2 am and of course, I had work the next day.

Then Friday night, I had to haul my tired-ass to dinner with Eileen Joy, a friend I met on-line back in the day. It was one of EJ's last nights in the city. She just completed her Masters of Social Work degree and was headed back to Cali after her graduation. Congrats!! We all ate at Jeeb (where I had my 30th bday) and then went out for a quick drink afterwards. Well, I got a quick drink (and didn't even finish $10 glass of Baileys on the rocks) and made a mad dash home. I got home at around 1 am, but I was dead-tired from the night before that I was slightly delirious by the time dinner came along. You know how lightheaded you get from lack of sleep? Right?? But I had a lot of fun catching up with EJ, Jason, Gail, and Anna. I really wish I could've stayed longer!

So by Saturday, I just didn't have any energy. However, my family and the hubs' family all met up for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day a day early. We had a good time eating Japanese food at Minado. Rockstar baby didn't have fun though...

Saturday night, I met up with Analyse from France --making this my second "EB" with a fellow blogger. Ana was so cool and chic! She rocked a French accent with her English and Tagalog and we chatted about NYC, the babies, and how neat France is for subsidizing all her baby-related expenses. (Dang, Europe is the shit when it comes to maternity leave!). I really wish I got spend more time with her, but she was only in NYC for a hot minute. I did offer to be her tour guide for the next time she comes to visit.

All this time though, rockstar baby has been sick. As in mucus-y coughing, continuous fevers, and a total loss of appetite. I was/am a mess. He'd be better and then revert back to being sickly. I took him to the doctor who put him on a nebulizer for his cough, but then his fevers still continued. He actually had a 100-degree fever when we went out to eat on Saturday! So the rest of the weekend was spent at home taking care of him. My mother's day was crap since his fever went up even higher on Sunday and all he wanted to do was sleep and not eat. I have to literally force him to drink a bottle. Once again, he lost a few pounds and looks like a sickly little urchin. Argh.

Here he is managing a smile despite everything...

A sickly rockstar baby makes for a cranky rockstar mom. Yesterday, I came home early from work; he had a fever of 104 at the daycare (he had a normal temperature when I dropped him off, though). Luckily, I had already scheduled an appointment with his doc. So off we went to the doctor for the third time in less than 12 days. This time, he was diagnosed with bronchitis and was prescribed antibiotics. Hallelujah! So I took a half-day off and today off from work to help him recuperate.

I need to catch some ZZzzzzs. This rockstar lifestyle is making me sleepy.

a post in pictures...

2007-05-06T21:44:00.000-04:00

Here's an eclectic mix of pictures I want to share. As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words...so why describe when you can show!

Today was my mother's birthday. Getting to Queens for her birthday lunch was a fiasco; there was a bike-a-thon in Manhattan and they closed down the highway I take. As a result, it took me 2 hours to get to Queens, when it usually takes me 30 minutes! I was cranky when I got there, and I'm sure I disappointed her when I was being masunggit. But please know I love you mom!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Rockstar baby's uncle Daryl gave him this car for his birthday. He loves riding in it and being pushed around the neighborhood. Today though, he realized it was also fun to push his bear Rupert II around!

Rockstar Baby with his Little Red Corvette

The hubs and I are invited to a total of no less than 6 weddings this year! This is number 1: the wedding of Myeong and Dhruv. It was held at Chelsea Piers in NYC and it was a very elegant affair.

A Wedding at Chelsea Piers - NYC - April 28, 2007

Rockstar Mom and Rockstar Baby! Amazing artwork by my friend Ben.
Thank you for drawing us!

Last but not the least...

It's official: It's the end of an era! Here is a pic of my last night with my friend Alina (far right). Now there is only three (of 5) of us in the Party Posse...

Party Posse's Last Night

the show must go on...(despite a car accident)

2007-04-26T14:47:00.000-04:00

So last night, I got into a car accident with rockstar baby in the car! We were literally two blocks away from our house when I decided to make a left turn at an intersection --from the right lane. You see, we were traveling northbound on a two-lane, one-way street. I was on the right lane, and the car I hit was on the left lane. For some insane reason, I forgot all about the fact that I was on a one-way street. What I did was look for oncoming traffic to make the left, totally forgetting about the other lane next to me! So I turned and smacked into another car. Lucky for her, she saw me in time and swerved. The only point of contact was the right side, tail end of her car against the left front of my car (towards the headlights). Both cars suffered just scratches and no dents. But of course, the whole thing was scary (and could've been much worse. I prefer not to dwell on the what-could-have-been-worse part). Rockstar baby was fine and didn't know anything happened. But I was freaking out on the inside to think of how irresponsible I was. I mean, I've traveled down this same road since 2001 and last night, I just blanked out and made a left turn!

The lady I hit totally yelled and screamed. Even after I said "I'm at fault, I'm sorry. Let's just call the police." I understand the whole yelling and screaming thing. I probably would've done the same thing. However, she started yelling again while we were waiting for the police! She actually approached my window just to yell at me, and while I was holding the baby. Puh-leaze! I had to tell her 5 times NOT to yell and that it wasn't necessary to yell. The whole time, I said about only 5 sentences to her (incorporating the request not to scream at me).

The good thing was the cop who helped us out could totally tell the lady was being such a beeyatch. He even said he talked to her about being more civil and not to worry that much about the accident. It happens, mistakes happen, he says. He was nice, and helped make the whole ordeal easier.

But I must say, it sucks being the one at fault at a car accident. This is my 4th car accident and the first one in which I was at fault (the other times, people hit me). I mean my mind was and is still filled with "I-should've-done-this" scenarios, "what-if" scenarios, and worrying about what a terrible mom I was for putting the kid in danger. I don't care if I get hurt. Now, it's all about the baby. I'm definitely still reeling over this even though I may sound flippant about the whole situation.

But that was that. Later that evening, I actually had to play at a gig. I really contemplated on not going and just mope at home. But I figured I have to move past the accident and that the show must go on. So while I was actually scared to drive, I went and made it to our 10 pm show at The Annex. It went well and we were quite happy with the sound levels in general; considering I was using a 30-watt amp, I thought it came out well.

Also, we actually recorded the show for the first time. You can hardly see our faces, but I'm the one on the left. I was crap and sang quite shittily (is that a word?) but the show must go on... Here are some clips from last night's show:

Song: I Can't Wait

Song: Dear John (the new song I mentioned on a previous post)

Song Title: Ghost

Song Title: Standing in the Rain

So there you go. For folks who've made comments before about wanting to see me play and/or thinking I can play guitar and sing: well now you know the truth! I told you I wasn't good, and now there is evidence! LOL...

For more videos, go to You Tube and type in "plastiq passion."

And that was my Wednesday night, folks!

all about rockstar baby (rsb)

2007-04-24T09:13:00.000-04:00

I haven’t written about my RSB in a while, but I keep meaning to. I know most people won’t find this especially interesting, but as a mom, I feel compelled to write about his growth and development. It really is amazing to watch this tiny little creature grow into an actual person right before your eyes. So here goes:

I love watching him eat a cracker. He holds it with his cute little hands and takes 2 or 3 delicate little nibbles –then he just starts chomping at it. So it’s really “nibble, nibble, nibble, chomp, and then shove-the-remaining-piece in my mouth.” Or if he doesn’t cram the rest in his mouth, he’ll throw it on the floor and then stomp on it. And then he laughs about it. Hilarious! Of course, the cleaning up of the crumbs is not hilarious. We say no to the stomping but he just finds that hilarious.
RSB knows his shoes. He can tell his outside shoes from his indoor shoes, and has preferences for which shoes to put on. He will yell and put up a fight until you put on the shoes he wants. I just bought him the cutest kicks a week ago and he loves them. They are Geox sneakers in a blue, orange, cream combo and they’re meant for early walkers. Whenever he sees them, he’ll pick them up, bring ‘em to you, and indicate that he wants them. Sometimes he's even say "this! this!" If you try to put on a different pair, he’s continue to yell at you and put up a fuss. Ye gods. Shoe connoisseur? I am worried.

RSB loves dogs. He has a little toy puppy that barks when you press its tummy. He’ll pick it up and give it to you and go “oof, oof” (or some variation therof) which indicates that he wants you to make the dog bark (he can’t do it on his own yet). He also loves videos of dogs we find on YouTube and will sit there and watch for a good 15 minutes. He’ll be actively pointing and making observations.
RSB discovered he could walk backwards a few days ago. It’s a cool parlor trick, but he only does it when he wants to. He also loves to climb up the stairs (which is certainly a very dangerous hobby).

RSB loves golf! Which is great for the hubs. RSB can be his caddy in a couple of years! Hahah... RSB was given a trio of toy golf clubs to play with and he always walks around with one clutched tightly in his hand. If you try to pry it off, he will get pissed off. He even falls asleep with a club in his hands. He also likes to hit golf balls around. So he's definitely a golfer in training.

RSB is also fascinated by my guitar. Whenever I play, he'll grab the guitar pick from me and try to use it. But he always has a quizzical look on his face when he uses the pick and doesn't make a sound. I think he thinks that the sound comes from the pick and wonders why I can still play without it. He also likes to dance when I'm playing!
RSB is a skinny little dude. I have tried to no avail to fatten him up, but it just isn’t happening. I am very worried about this despite the fact that his pediatrician says he’s healthy and growing normally. The doc keeps saying that it’s a matter of genetics and that he's following his own growth curve. She keeps saying "well you're not exactly a giant yourself, so you shouldn't really expect him to be." But then I tell her that I see tons of moms with chubby, tubby babies! WTF?! It’s gotten to the point that I feel I have done something wrong to make RSB such a small baby. Like maybe I should've breastfed him every hour on the hour, or gave him more formula if he so much as cried when he was younger. He’s at the 50th-75th percentile for height, thank goodness, but he’s consistently at the 5-10th % percentile for weight. The thing I don't get is that he has a good appetite. He eats a good breakfast, lunch, and dinner and some snacks in between. His favorite food is this dish I created: broccoli and cauliflower, cheese sauce, and tofu all blended together. He can eat a whole bowl of this. He also has about 15-20 ounces of milk, plus a can on Pediasure daily. And I also put tons of butter or olive oil in a lot of his meals. So what gives? He’s still a skinny dude and I’m still a worried mom. Gah! I don’t know why he’s not any chubbier. Although he does have my dad’s body type I suppose –small and skinny despite always eating and snacking. And like my doc says, babies come in all shapes and sizes and not to worry as long as he is healthy.

Well of course I count my blessings and I’m glad RSB is nice and healthy! He’s outgoing, sociable, annoying, whiny, cute, active, smart, whimsical, and all that and a bag of chips!

plastiq passion is a sold-out scandal...*

2007-04-17T15:54:00.001-04:00

wielding the axe
Originally uploaded by katdlr.

On Friday the 13th, plastiq passion played at The Delancey. It was our first gig with our new bassist Susan (since our old one quit). The venue was great despite being deep into the Lower East Side right by the bridge! I found parking right by the overpass and swear I thought I'd be mugged along the way (but thankfully wasn't!).

The show was...eh. It didn't go well according to my standards. In fact, I was sorely disappointed since a few members (and I'm not going to name names!) messed up some parts. Overall though, we had fun as usual. We also debuted my new song which I like very much (and yes, I'm singing it) and a lot of folks actually liked that one. Maybe because it's a little pop-punkish. Someone even told me it's had commercial-potential (which I took as a compliment). We also had a great turn-out (special thanks to Annie, Phil, and Christina who came out!)

Plastiq Passion at The Delancey

The new line-up

(from l-r: drummer Cil, new bassist Susan, Jes - vox/guitars, and me on guitars/vox)

I think most people in this world either care about music (as in they are passionate and have an opinion about it) or don't (as in they listen to it and know what they like, but that's about it). I fall into the former category. I joined this band primarily because a) I love music and bands, and b) I love music and want to make music reminiscent of my favorite bands (i.e., The Cure, Interpol, The Smiths, etc.) So when we mess up our songs, it's like a terrible personal slight on my part. There are days when I just want to quit the band. I mean, I'm not getting paid for it obviously and I know our sound doesn't appeal to a lot of people. But there are days when I'm just energized and I have all these hopes and the drive and determination to make our band the best it can be.

So yesterday at practice, I told my bandmates we're all going to have to shape up. I said "I don't care if you fingers bleed or your arm falls off. We're playing all our songs to perfection and we're writing new songs that are GOOD. Not just OK." I hope it works. I myself do not have a lot time (like I did before) to work on songs so it takes me a long time just to create one. I love arranging music. When I think of a new song, I think of it from start to finish: bass line, rhythm, lead, etc. I can't just have one part. When I make up a song, I record each part separately and it's a tedious, laborious process since I'm only working with two ghetto tape recorders. So it's hard when I envision a song and the execution doesn't meet up to my standards. *Sigh* Isn't it funny how some of our hobbies take up so much time and money?

Our next show is on Wednesday, April 25th at The Annex. Holler if you're in the NYC area and would like more details.

*this is a line from a Cure song.

i'm a player hater

2007-04-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

According to the hubs, I'm a big complainer. I can't fully disagree with him since I do tend to make comments. But I really can't help it sometimes. As much as I try not to be, I can be judgmental and snarky. I player-hate. I get jealous. I envy others. Should I? No, of course it's a sin to covet thy neighbor, but I think most people are guilty of it in some way, shape, or form. After all, we're only human, right?

Before I go and whine, let me say that I recognize that I have a great life. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful baby boy that I adore, a neat starter home, a good career with flexible hours, generous parents, wonderful friends, and I have my health and happiness. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Now on with the whining. I can't help but make comments like:

"I want a bigger house. Can we move? Can we renovate? Now?"

"She's such a lucky bitch. People always buy shit for her and she doesn't have to pay for anything."

"I need a higher paying job. My friends make more money than me."

"I'm so jealous she went to Greece! I'd love to go to Greece!"

We all have our 'woe-is-me' days I suppose. Problems are relative and even people like Bill Gates can complain, right? So like I said, while I know I'm blessed (and I don't even think I need to justify this), I still express discontent. And while I'm genuinely happy when good things happen to my friends and family, a part of me also gets all jealous from time to time. You know what I'm saying?

Like when I heard about my friend Riss going to Australia and joining my friend Girlie there on holiday. My first thought was "Damn! I wish I could afford a trip to Australia!" Yes I should be happy for her and I am, but hey, I'm selfish as well. Although in reality I don't really have the liberty (or the desire) to leave rockstar baby behind even if I did have the means.

Or when my friend Alina told me she was moving to Los Angeles. For some insane reason, I felt jealous that she was starting this new adventure. I immediately told the hubs "we should move to L.A!" despite the fact that a) I did already live there and b) I have no reason to move there at this time.

So I've come to the realization that I'm a player-hater. Heck, I don't like this trait of mine. Everyday I try to be a better person and I try not to compare my life with others. But this weird streak appears on occasion and I become "Snarky Kat." Ugh. Is this normal?

Am I the only one who goes through this?

(Angelic people need not reply)

there is no such thing as a free lunch

2007-04-02T14:46:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, I had a very nice meal at Peter Luger. Peter Luger is a well-known steakhouse famous for its huge porterhouse steaks. (Aside: I actually gave up red meat for Lent, but I swear I’m tacking on an extra day of atonement! Plus, I am planning not to eat it on a regular basis anymore.)

I went there with this attorney who had been practicing for many, many years. Now I knew that this guy was rich (from what I heard). What I didn’t know was that this guy was wealthy (because there is a difference). He’s a very unassuming gentleman and you’d never really consider him to be an intimidating sort of fellow. This guy has a combination of smarts and luck. Case in point: On his last trip to Las Vegas, he won $90,000. That’s on a hundred-dollar slot machine. In one try! Egads!

As soon as we get there, he’s discreetly peeling off bills left and right to the maitre’ d, to the waiters, and to the valet from a wad the size of a roll of toilet paper. I kid you not. I have no idea how that even fit his pocket, but it did. Anyway, we got our appetizers in 5 minutes, our lunch in 10. We’re talking service here. Good meal. Good conversation. He’s led a very full life and I was happy to get to know him. He was genuinely a good guy with no airs about him.

So that was Thursday. Thursday night, I get a stomachache. By Friday, I’ve developed a low-grade fever and couldn’t keep anything down. So from Friday to Saturday night, all I did was puke-poop-sleep. I know, TMI huh? But that was my weekend. Gah! I can’t believe I got the stomach virus again! Prior to this year, I have never really had it. What gives?! My only main concern was whether I’d get the baby sick. So far, so good.

So the moral of the story is: there is no such thing as a free lunch! But I must say, it was a good lunch indeed. Steak, red wine, a hot fudge sundae topped with massive amounts of whipped cream and a nice cappuccino. What more can you ask for?

P.S. It's tagging time! I've been tagged by Eileen Joy and Karen.

4 Things

Four Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Attorney
2. Law Clerk (judicial clerkship)
3. Sales Clerk (for Eddie Bauer, Gap Kids, and The Gap)
4. Babysitter

Four Movies I would watch over and over:
1. Lord of the Rings (especially 'the two towers')
2. Stand by Me
3. The Professional
4. Like Water for Chocolate

Four Places I have lived:
1. Manila
2. Los Angeles
3. New York
4. New Jersey

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Most Filipino dishes (especially pork sinigang and lechon kawali)
2. Sushi and other Japanese fare (especially shrimp tempura and donburi)
3. Thai, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Spanish cuisine
4. hamburgers and beef pho

Four Places I’d rather be right now:
1. exploring Greece
2. playing in Central Park with rockstar baby
3. eating a delicious meal with the hubs at the Four Seasons or Per Se
4. exploring Brazil and Argentina

the ex-files, part 1: the asshole of my life

2007-03-27T10:43:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm recommending you read my previous post "I was a single white female" as an accompaniment/background to this post.

As many women can probably attest to, there's always that guy, that asshole that you wish you can erase from your dating history. For me, that would be Feodor D--- Yeah, I typed his name. Let him google himself and see this! *evil laughter* It wasn't so much that he was an evil person. He just wasn't a very nice one, to me at least, and it was a matter of just two people really, really, really not meant for each other but just staying together and coasting along for reasons unknown or forgotten.

Let's see…I met him during the spring semester of my first year in college. He was actually a senior in high school visiting a friend (or rather, ex-girl). I thought he was very cute and flirted with him with my minimal flirting skills. (Aside: I was freshly broken up with my high school sweetheart and had been in a monogamous relationship since I was 15, so I really didn't have any flirting skills). Anyway, we ended up going out and hanging out. In a few month's time, we began to date.

It was a volatile relationship right from the beginning. We really didn’t have a lot of things in common. He had no interest in higher education, had no immediate goals in mind, and hadn't even graduated from high school when we started to date. In the meantime, I was still new to NYC, was still in the process of trying to fit in (again, see previous post), and sort of depended on him to introduce me to new friends, new hangouts, etc.

So him, coupled with my plummeting self-esteem = disaster. I was constantly trying to prove to him that I was good enough, when it reality, everyone around us knew that he was the lucky one. Since he was not even in college and not working, I paid for everything –dinner, drinks, movies, shooting pool, and the general costs of hanging out. I also paid for our vacations. Like a trip to Hawaii. Yes, you read that right. I paid through a mix of my own money (because I had a part-time job), and a bit of allowance from my parents. He practically lived at my dorm much to the dismay on my other room mates. He never bought me anything, constantly mooched off me, constantly looked at other girls (I myself like to appreciate other women, but you have to throw a praise or two my way, at least!), and never made me feel loved and secure like my previous boyfriend did. And here's the kicker: He even used my credit card to call phone sex lines and racked up a bill to the tune of $200+! What the F%#*!?! Yes, I took him back after that. It was Christmas time, after all. Me = doormat.

Why the hell did I stick around so long? The only thing going for us was the physical aspect of it all. Which is not much to go by. All throughout our relationship, I asked myself that question. Everyone told me I could do better (even some of his friends and his own mom said that!). I knew I could do better. I think deep down, I thought I would lose the new associations I made. He was my connection, and I felt I wouldn’t have all these friends or be part of "the scene" if I let go of him. At the time, I think I was co-dependent on him for my happiness. Part of me liked the challenge of trying to change him, taking care of him, mothering him. It made me feel needed, especially in light of the fact that I was still trying to find my own way in life. Does that make sense?

I ended up dating him on and off for about two years. Two years of my life wasted. And the last half of our relationship was spent trying to get rid of him. I finally got rid of him when I fell for this other guy at school and started seeing him on the sly. Yes I cheated. It took someone else who appreciated me to see the mess I got myself into. I told him it was over but he still came around, thinking he would win me back. When he found out that I cheated, he got so mad that he punched me on my thigh --leaving a bruise. He said he wasn't sorry for doing it and would do it again because I deserved it. I was stunned and humiliated. And I never said anything about this to anyone except now.

Well that incident just about sealed the deal. After that, it was finally! over. Although for a few months after that, I would get his drunken calls in the middle of the night asking for me back. Such drama.

Now, I hear he's doing well. He supposedly lives with his girlfriend in their own apartment and I hear he's working in Wall St. Thank goodness I haven’t had the misfortune of running into him especially since I work in the city where he lives. If we did run into each other, I really don’t know what I would say. Other than maybe hit him up for money he owed me.

P.S. My latest review is up and running! Please check out: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough

what would you do in my shoes? (aka I need your advice)

2007-03-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

Okay my faithful readers (all 3 of you!), I need your advice on two big issues. Please read on:

1) Can you see yourself working with your mom? Your dad? Or both? Here’s some background: My father is a lawyer with his own firm in NYC –he started this firm in the late 90’s and it’s been going great for him. (My mother is the office manager and basically runs the show). He does mostly personal injury law and some immigration, but he doesn’t really like personal injury (he used to be a corporate attorney in the Philippines and complains about missing the intellectual stimulation). Anyway, now he’d rather focus on immigration law. Recently, he bought out another attorney’s immigration practice. So now, my father’s running two separate offices which he’s trying to combine into one. He’s asked me (repeatedly) to come work with him. I’ve never really given it much thought because of the following reasons:

a. I have always (been that kind of sucker who) wanted to work in public service.
b. Working with my parents feels like I would just be given money as opposed to earning money.
c. I feel it wouldn’t be a “real” job that I got on my own.
d. I’d feel once again, like the dutiful, obedient daughter who works with her folks because she feels obligated to.
e. I still like my job!

Now, if I worked for them doing immigration I would be still helping the public (helping them get visas, etc.) so that would fit my public service needs I suppose. So that leaves only concerns b, c, and d (and e). My mother says I’d be the running the immigration office side while my father stays downtown in the other firm until it consolidates. I’d be learning how to run a business and keep it afloat –which is always good experience. As much as I love my job, I am intrigued with this possibility. I do like immigration law, and the big plus is that I’ll be earning a lot more money that I am now, (and won’t feel like such a loser compared to my friends who earn a lot, travel for business, and do cool things). Another big plus is that I'd still have good hours. But if I take the job (and this would be in a couple of years), I'd feel like I didn't get the job on my own. I don't know why I feel like I’d just be getting a handout as opposed to earning money? In any case, I told my parents the same thing I’ve always told them, which is “I’ll think about it.” But this time, I really am thinking about it. A lot of my friends have said "go for it! I'd do it in an instant!" I am not too sure. And again, this wouldn't happen for another couple of years or so. What would you do? Any advice?

My other dilemma is not too difficult:

2) Would you take an almost 2 year old on an 18+ hour plane ride? I mentioned this briefly in another post. My parents are going to the Philippines in December and invited me (the baby and the hubs) to come along. The hubs isn’t too thrilled about it, but would be fine if I went with rockstar baby. My concerns:

a. The super-long flight with a persnickety 22-month old (that’s how old he would be in December). Times two!
b. The whole schlepping of the car seat to the Philippines, worrying about him getting sick from the heat or the food, etc. And did I mention worrying about him getting sick?
c. Losing vacation days when I know I should save it for baby #2.
d. Possibly being preggo during the trip (but this is just a ginormous maybe, obviously).

e. Rockstar baby and I would miss dad!

By far, the pros outweigh the cons. But the cons are my biggest hurdle. But I would love to see the Philippines (I haven't been there since 2000), see my family and chill with my cousins, meet up with bloggers (really, this is my raison d'être), and do a lot of eating, shopping, and relaxing! I just think it would be the best vacation (although the hubs wouldn’t be with us). My friends say once I get there I'll have a yaya to fawn over rockstar baby and I won't have a single worry. But getting there is half the battle. What do you think?

P.s. are there car seat laws in the Philippines? I honestly don't know.

Your suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

i was a single white female...

2007-03-11T09:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, I was guilty of copping someone else's style a la Single White Female (you know, that 1992 movie with Jennifer Jason Leigh). It started in college. Picture it: New York City, August 1995. I was (I thought) a self-assured 18-year old with a passion for writing, music, and literature. I was independent and a free-spirit --I had just moved from Los Angeles and haven't lived with my parents for two years. So when I moved into the dorms on Broadway and 116th Street, I wasn't even homesick. I did, however, miss my high school boyfriend like crazy. We had plans for the future, he was going to move to NYC to be with me, and we'd already worked out our lives. We'd move in together, I'd be a writer, he'd be in a band, we'd have day jobs until we hit it big, and that was that.

Or so I thought.

Enter reality (aka college). My freshman year roommate was a gorgeous, vivacious Korean chick named Christine. We got along great. We decorated our rooms together and shared everything. It was evident from day one that she was a popular, social butterfly. She immediately made tons of close friends, had 10+ messages waiting for her at the end of the day, and our room would always be visited by people --wanting to chat with her. Although I made a handful of really good friends (whom I'm still friends with present day), I wasn't the cool person that she was (or rather, the cool person I viewed her to be). She and her friends listened to hip-hop/pop music and I didn't. They smoked and drank socially, and I didn't. She went clubbing and and enjoyed the NYC nightlife, and I didn't (not yet at least). I suddenly felt like I've been missing out on life for some reason. It wasn't that I was jealous nor did I want to be her. It was more like she was the independent, self-assured person that I thought I was. As it turned out, I totally felt out of it. I lost my sense of self, and I didn't know how to deal with it.

The first thing I did was expand my wardrobe. Prior to college, I had my own unique style. I shopped at a lot of thrift stores (before it became fashionable), wore lots of dresses and skirts over tights and jeans, wore lots of black, and was considered to be artsy and creative. I only had 4 types of shoes: my trusty Doc Martens and 3 others pairs of black shoes (mary janes, workboots, and clogs). But compared to my roommate, I felt dated. I started to buy clothes like hers (trendy with a twist) and even asked her which stores she recommended. I also loved her jeans so I asked her to buy the same kind of jeans she had. So she had her mom buy them for me. Then she cut her hair short which I really liked. But I wasn't about to cut mine. A few months later, however, I basically ended up with a short hair style similar to hers (it was actually a lot shorter than I told the hairstylist, but what can you do). I picked up smoking, worked on my alcohol tolerance, and started to go out as well. I began to make Filipino friends (as I didn't have a lot of close Filipino friends in high school) and hung-out with them a lot. These new Filipino friends also had the same pop-culture tastes (read: mainstream) as Christine did. I boxed up all my old CDs: gone were The Cure, The Smiths, The Clash, and in with The Fugees, Biggie, and other hip-hop/R&B artists (most of whom turned out to be just one-hit-wonders: Queen Pen, anyone?). I felt like I had so much catching up to do since I wanted to fit into "the scene."

I didn't even realize I was copying Christine until I overheard a conversation between her and her friend Nicole. Nicole basically said "look, she's copying you. You guys have the same jeans, she cut her hair like you, and she's always looking at your clothes. I think she's trying to be you! Hahahah..."

Ouch. But like I said, I never wanted to be her. She just happened to personify what I thought I should be in order to feel like I "fit in." What Nicole said put things in perspective, but by then, I already had adopted this "new me" and I was letting go of "old me." College has a way of hazing you whether you are trying out for a sorority or not. I decided to go with "new me" and became one of the crowd. I broke up with the boyfriend (which is another story altogether) and started dating this Filipino guy (who turned out to be such a big-time asshole --again, another story altogether). I went to parties with my new Filipino friends, danced away to hip-hop music, and became your normal, average college chick. Inside though, I felt like I closed the doors on my old personality.

Of course the choices I made more than 10 years ago made me who I am today. Now, I've reconciled "old me" with "new me" and realized that "real me" is an amalgam of all my traits, passions, choices, and tastes as it evolved over the years. I realized that most of me never changed all along. It's all just under the rubric of "growing up." I'm still a music geek (and a fan of all genres), still a bookworm, still have a passion for writing, and back to dressing the way I want to dress. I learned that you should never compare yourself to anyone.

I am who I am. And I most certainly am not about to cop someone else's style. I like my own, thank you very much.

so apparently, i'm raising a vampire...

2007-03-06T10:15:00.000-05:00

Rockstar baby bit two (2!) kids this past week in daycare. One boy and one girl (I guess he doesn't discriminate) within 2 days of each other. The kids were fine. The daycare director spoke to me about how he should be reprimanded at home and gave me an article as to why some kids bite. The article stated how some kids bite because they are either overstimulated/understimulated, angry, frustrated, etc...etc. It offers parents advice as to how to show their kids to express their emotions, yadda yadda yadda. But I'm like, hello! Rockstar baby is not even 13 months old yet. He's obviously still teething! I know we can help him control who and what he bites; we tell him "No!" when does something wrong (and sometimes, I even put him in a corner). But like I said, he's still very young and still doesn't fully grasp this whole "No!" concept. He understands we're not happy, but then he looks at us and starts giggling and then goes off his merry way. Either that or he gives you a hug and a slurpy kiss to make you forget that you're mad at him. Smart, huh?

Man, this is just the beginning of upcoming parenting woes....

Oh, and can I just say that within the first 2 weeks of starting daycare, rockstar baby was bit on the arm by some baby? I understand that babies are just being themselves and things happen, but maybe the daycare needs to be more vigilant in watching these kids, no?

behind the music

Have you seen those 'Behind the Music' VH1 shows where they do a short documentary of a band and how they split up/come together/reunite/etc? Well we had our own "Behind the Music" experience several weeks ago. After our last gig in late January, our bassist Matt walked out on us. He had some beef with our lead singer Jes (aka the band leader because she started the band). Basically, Jes's brother told Matt that he had a shitty personality, and the shit hit the fan. Matt was pissed, looked to Jes for some mediating, but Jes ignored it all. So Matt talked back, made other people angry, and then officially quit the band.

Well the Monday after that, Jes and I met up along with our drummer Cil. I told Jes that since we're looking for a new bassist, we might as well get one that had good vocals. Jes was silent and clearly did not like that idea. She said, "No, we're fine as it is." Then Jes started telling us that she'd like us to start practicing 2-3x a week and that we needed to get our act together. Cil and I said "No way! We're not practicing that much a week!" Jes pretty much said "Ok then, if can't do it, then there's no point for all of this." She then packed her shit up, and then left the studio just like that! Cue voiceover: And on February 19, Plastiq Passion broke up....

Cil and I were aghast. I mean, who walks out on people without talking about their problems? We're not in high school anymore, right? Bottom line: We were able to talk later on and all's well and good. But really, it felt like we were straight out of an episode of 'Behind the Music.'

And we're still looking for a bassist. Know anyone?

back from miami (aka rockstar baby's first holiday)

2007-02-28T21:57:00.001-05:00

rockstar baby's first plane ride
Originally uploaded by katdlr.

So I’m back from our little holiday to Miami. It was an experience alright! Vacations take on a whole new meaning once you have a toddler in tow! The flight to Miami went well. Rockstar baby behaved, fell asleep for about an hour, and then was awake for the rest of the 3.5-hour flight. We entertained him for a bit and he was content to eat his Cheerios and be read to, but towards the end, he just wanted out of the darn plane! At least he didn’t throw a tantrum and didn’t have any screaming fits. (The flight back home was even better since he was asleep the whole time!)

We stayed at my parents’ condo in Sunny Isles (aka the North Miami Beach area) which is totally not baby-proofed! Within the first hour, rockstar baby did the following: banged his head on the mirrors (he just doesn’t pay attention when he’s walking), spilled a bottle of olive oil on the floor, and threw a garbage can in the toilet! He loves to explore and walk around, so most of our energy was spent watching him and doing damage control.







that's my parent's condo in the background first day on the beach

We did plenty of things during the day: visit South Beach’s Lincoln Road and strolled around; go to Bayside Marketplace for some souvenir shopping and to visit the marina, and then we took the baby to the beach and the pool. He had a great time walking in the sand but he was scared of the little waves that break onto the shore. His feet got wet and since it was cold, he wasn’t too pleased. He preferred walking around the shore. We also took him in the pool, but we didn’t swim since we couldn’t really take him in with us (he had no special swimming diapers plus the water was also too cold for him and we didn’t want him to get sick).

Having lunch at Sushi Samba - South Beach

Chilling at Bayside Marketplace

There were just a couple of things I realized when we got there:

1) Forget visions of sunbathing by the beach/pool: Unless you have a nanny (or other caretaker) with you, there is no sunbathing on the beach while reading a book or drinking a frozen cocktail.
2) Forget the nightlife: Unless you have a nanny/caretaker with you, there is no such thing as going dancing/clubbing at night.

However, we still had an amazing time together as a family. Watching rockstar baby walking around on the beach was wonderful in and of itself! It was great to just wake up together and not have to scramble to go to work. We ate lunch out, spent tons of time with rockstar baby (we had no choice! ;), did some sight-seeing, and stayed in at night. Which is just fine with the hubs and I since we’ve been to Miami several times already (we go about once a year or so). I wanted to take him to the zoo and the parrot jungle, but realized he was just too young to do those things. Another year perhaps?

Our next holiday will be at the beach again –this time, at the local NJ shore for a wedding around Labor Day Weekend. But only driving, no flying involved. There’s also the possibility of going to the Philippines in December, but I have to think twice about flying for 18+ hours with rockstar baby --in coach! I just don’t know if I can do it!

p.s. SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT to KAI: She designed and uploaded this kick-arse new template of mine. Isn't she talented folks? Much love and thanks Kai!

welcome to miami, bienvenido a miami...

2007-02-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

I'm off on holiday! We're taking rockstar baby on his first vacation to sunny Miami. We're leaving tomorrow and coming back on Tuesday, Feb 27th. I'm really looking forward to the sunny weather (it's a predicted 81-degrees over there versus 32-degrees over here), eating out every day, and hopefully getting a tan since I've been looking rather pasty. What I'm not looking forward to the plane trip and lugging the baby's stuff (i.e., the stroller, carseat, etc.) Since it's rockstar baby's first plane ride, we have no idea how he'll behave. Everyone's told us to just give him some Benadryl to knock him out --and they weren't kidding! But we'll see how it goes... Wish us luck! Have a good weekend folks!

happy 1st birthday, my rockstar baby!

2007-02-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

first birthday cake!
Originally uploaded by katdlr.

I can't believe you're already a year old! It was a year ago today that you were born. It seems just like yesterday when dad and I brought you home from the hospital. You were such a tiny thing --like a little kitten complete with teeny mewing sounds. I remember being so scared during the drive home. We were carrying such precious cargo and I told dad to drive slower --even though he was only going 40 mph on the highway!

Watching you grow was and is amazing. Each day was totally different from the next and the first three months was like a blur! I remember putting you on your tummy at 2 weeks old and you surprised me by being able to hold your head up and move it from one side to another! I also remember your very first smile at 6 weeks old! And no, it wasn't gas! =) You were recognizing your surroundings! At three months, we were already propping you up everywhere and you liked being able to see the world around you! At four months, you started to sleep through the night (reassuring both dad and I that yes, we were going to sleep like normal people again).

During your fifth month, you were baptized! It was a sweet and lovely ceremony and you looked very happy in your baptismal gown. That month, we also started to feed you solids starting with cereal --you really liked it after getting used to it! Soon after, we gave you your first ever haircut (that you didn't enjoy!) By your sixth month you already seemed like your own little person! After this month, everything you did was like a blur! You sat up, started crawling, started pulling yourself up to standing position, and did everything independently! I can't even keep track what happened when!

But I do know this: It's been such an amazing experience just watching you grow and hitting all those milestones! Watching you take your first little steps before you turned 11 months was just so darn cool! Soon after that, you just started walking all over the place! Now, we can hardly remember the time when you couldn't even roll over!! Time really does fly like they all say! Before you know it, we'll be celebrating your 10th birthday!

Dad and I are just amazed with every little thing you learned to do and continue to learn to do! We love you so much and cannot imagine life without you. Even though we've only been parents for literally 365 days, we can hardly remember life without you, our rockstar baby. You've enriched us in so many ways, and words cannot express the love we feel for you! You are our blessing!

Happy First Birthday my love! I know you won't even be able to remember this day, but mom and dad will certainly remember it for you!

Happy First Birthday!

Rockstar baby - a year ago today

Rockstar baby - a year later!

More party pics to come...!

Saturday Night Fever

2007-02-12T21:13:00.000-05:00

So even though rockstar baby had a 103.7-degree fever on Friday night, I still went out on Saturday night. Rockstar baby woke up around 10-ish on Friday night with a crazy fever! I called the doctor and she said not to worry, give him some Tylenol or Motrin and the fever would go down. Well, we did give him some medicine and the fever did go down in less than an hour. On Saturday morning, I took him to the doctor's for a check-up and we found out he had an ear infection. His third one before his first birthday! Ear infections are quite common, and since he had them before, we knew the drill: antibiotics for 10 days (or sometimes, until the medication runs out).

But like I said, I went out Saturday night because it was my friend Rupal's 30th birthday. I met my friend Rupal in law school, as well as my other friends Alina and Annie. All of us chicas were born on the 9th --what a cool coincidence, huh? Alina was born on January 9th (as was her sister Laurie!), Rupal was born on February 9th, my birthday is on July 9th, and Annie was born on November 9th.

Happy Birthday Roops!

And Yay! We were all born on the 9th!

Rupal held had her party at 3 Steps --this cool joint on 2nd Avenue and 19th Street. She had a 2-hour open bar and her own signature drink! I had a lot of fun, met this cool (gay) guy named Gavin, and had a great time with my friends. The best part of the evening? The music!! I mean what bar nowadays plays songs from The Clash, The Smiths, The Strokes, and Blondie all in a row?! Loved it!

The conversations were cool too:

Gavin: (staring at a guest) Plaid is such a commitment, don't you think?
Me: (following his gaze and seeing a guest wearing an orange plaid short-sleeve shirt) Oh yes.
Gavin: Especially in orange. With short sleeves. In February. Gawd, what is he thinking?!

With Jamie and Gavin, my new best friend

***

Rupal: I can only be a lesbian from the waist up *motions from waist up*
Us: *laughter*
Rupal: I'm serious. Kissing is kissing. Whatevs. But no way down there. I'm sorry.
Me: Yeah. I know what you mean. I don't know where they've been.
Rupal: I know, right?!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

2007-02-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

My mom organized a surprise 60th “Roast and Toast” birthday party for my dad this past Saturday, February 3rd. My mom did a great job pulling it off considering she only got the idea for it right after Christmas and invitations weren’t sent out until mid-January! For such a short planning time, my mom was able to book a room at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel in Flushing, Queens; hire a great DJ; invite 108 friends and family members (some of whom flew in from California and Virginia); and keep it all from my dad!

My uncle Ben was a key conspirator in getting my dad to come to his own party –he told my dad he wanted him to meet his girlfriend’s parents. Lo and behold…when he entered the room, we greeted him with a big SURPRISE! Considering his actual birthday isn’t until this coming Thursday, he said he was really surprised and pleased!

I think he had a great time. His old classmates from Ateneo and U.P. were there, his good friends were there, and his family were all there. My mom even arranged for his friends from the Philippines to do a birthday greeting for him and played it on a projector which he really enjoyed. All in all, it was a very nice tribute. Happy birthday dad!

Some pics (all pics courtesy of Ms. Girlie):

With my mom and the birthday boy

So who's cutting the cake?

With my friends Girlie and Sol

Rockstar Baby with his Lolo

I'm One Stomach Flu Away From My Ideal Weight!

2007-01-29T14:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, this facetious remark was not made by me, but rather by the brilliant Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada. But I totally know what she means (and a few women at work even remarked how they wished they got the stomach virus!!) Remember how I battled a stomach virus not too long ago? Well the good thing about it is that I lost a couple of pounds. In fact, I was able to wear a pair of size 0 pants that I've long ago shelved to the back of my closet. Also, my stomach actually looked flat for the first time post-partum! Check it out!

Okay, that only lasted a few days and I'm back to having the mom-pooch (and can't wear those pants again). And really, I've stopped obsessing about weight ever since I became a mom. Sure I complain about the flabby arms and jiggly thighs, but I'm otherwise ok with how I look. For the past 6 years I've hovered around 110-115 pounds. But I've never been the type to look skinny. That's just not my body type. I was a lot heavier in college (after gaining the infamous freshman fifteen) and was downright chubby (and I have pictures to prove it see below).

L-R: Trish, Girlie, Sol, and Me (the dark clothes hide the chubbiness)

At my heaviest, I weighed 125-130 pounds which really did show on me considering I'm only 5 feet tall. So how did I lose all the weight? Being happy and content is my secret. Naks naman. ;)
When I started dating the hubs, I was still in my chubby stage. As time passed, I became slimmer and the pounds came off without even trying. Then sometime in 1999, I actually joined a gym and started getting regular exercise. More pounds came off. By the time I got married in 2001, I weighed about 108 pounds and was toned. But it wasn't like I went to the gym religiously (I went about 3x a week max) nor did I stop eating crappy foods. So I chalk it up to being content with my myself, with the hubs, and with my life.

Fast forward now: I still weigh around 110-115 pounds and lost all the baby weight I gained (about 25 pounds) without even trying. I haven't been to the gym since June 2005 and I look the way I looked before. Of course, my body fat percentage is probably off the charts, but at least I look normal. The secret? Again, being happy and content. (And yes ladies, breastfeeding works wonders!). I love being a mom, taking care of rockstar baby, and being giddy over the fact that I have my own little family. I think if you're at peace with yourself, you won't obsess (too much) about the weight gain. (Of course, being fit and getting regular exercise if a whole other story).

Projectile Vomiting and Poop -- Part Deux

2007-01-22T08:48:00.000-05:00

The good news is that rockstar baby is 99% recovered! Yehey! His poops are almost solid again (because you needed to know that) and he's eating (yes the BRAT diet of bananas, rice, apples, and toast without the toast part). The bad news is that the hubs and I got sick along with him! I woke up Saturday morning around 5 am and made a beeline for the bathroom. Here's some TMI: projectile vomit and poop as well! Ew, right? Basically the hubs and I fell ill. We had fevers and everything and it sucks trying to take care of a sick kid when you are sick yourself. Our own parents stopped by with some Gatorade, soup, and bananas for us. I don't care about being sick as long as the baby is better.

But we are pulling through. It's Monday; the hubs and I are home on the last leg of this damn stomach virus; and rockstar baby is running circles around us trying to get us to play with him! You should see him patting my head when I was lying on the couch shivering and trying to get the room to stop spinning. So cute!

Everyone is on the road to recovery!

Projectile Vomiting and Poop

2007-01-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

Did that catch your attention? Well the past 24 hours have been hellacious (is that a word?) Rockstar baby has a stomach virus and has been projectile vomiting and poo-ing for the past 24 hours. It all started last night at around 9:40-something in the evening when he woke up in a pool of his own vomit. Then it started to come out of the other end at around 2 am --once at the same time! Here's some stats from the past 24 hours and counting:

9: # of clothing changes he's had
10: # of times he vomited
0: # of bottles he's kept down
6: # of ounces of Pedialyte he's kept down
1: # of jars of food he's eaten
22: # of diapers I've changed (although at this point, I really think there's more since he poos and sharts every 30 minutes or so)
3: # of baths he's taken
2: # of times he got vomit on his hair
1: # of times he got vomit on my hair
4: # of times he got vomit on my clothes
3: # of times his crib sheets were changed
3: # of hours I've slept thus far (I'm beginning to have that crazed, super-energized feeling you get right before you're ready to snap)
4: # of consecutive hours he's slept
2: # of sick days I'll be taking because of this experience, possibly 3.
17: # number of pounds he currently weighs. He's lost about 2 pounds so far --in just 24 hours!

I feel so, so bad for my poor rockstar baby. He looks like some emaciated, Cambodian refugee awaiting adoption! I am not kidding. His little belly is now gone, and his ribs are sticking out. I hope he pulls out of this soon. I am not used to a sickly, crying rockstar baby. I feel so helpless for his situation, but unfortunately there is no magic pill for this virus. You just have to let it run its course. Having a sick baby is definitely one of the negatives of parenthood. I hate seeing him suffer.

Another major negative? Washing poop and vomit off clothes. And oh yeah. The lack of sleep.

Pardon the Interruption

2007-01-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I've changed the template up a bit. It's still under construction so please bear with me. All your old comments are still with Haloscan, but I am now using Blogger's commenting system.

I decided to utilize all the cool new gadgets that Blogger had to offer, rather than move to Wordpress (since CSS is a whole new animal for me to learn). I love their new labeling feature and I'm trying to take adventage of their other new widgets!

So pardon the interruption while I work on this template...

2007-01-14T21:40:00.000-05:00

Step by Step: A Recap in 7 Steps

1) Rockstar baby took his first steps! We are so excited! He took two tentative steps on January 10th, and then over the weekend, he took a few more! The most he took over the weekend was about 6 steps and it's so cool to watch him do it. He stands on his tippy-toes with this cheerful, determined look on his face! I must say, there is nothing like watching your child grow up right in front of your eyes. Being a mom rocks! Here's a quick little video of rockstar baby (we'll replace it with a better one when we get a better shot!).

2) You know what else rocks? Entourage. I got hooked on this show last weekend when I TiVoed about 6 episodes. Adrian Grenier is the new hotness! I love this show. I love Ari. I love this show! Can't wait for the new season.

3) Celeb sighting: Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at OUR gig!! My band Plastiq Passion played at the Parkside Lounge this past Saturday. Of course, she didn't actually watch us play, but she was definitely having a drink there! Hehehe... we gave her our CD, but she didn't look too enthused. What can you do?

4) A special thank you shout-out to Ms. Pinayhekmi. Do you know what this lady did? She sent me a Starbucks gift card just because she knew it was something I wanted and needed! What a great and unexpected gift! Tin rocks! *Hugs* you are the best! You're going to be a wonderful momma!

5) Today, we also discovered that rockstar baby has three more teeth coming out! No wonder he's been biting my face and teething like crazy! He has 4 teeth out now (two on the bottom, two on top), and he's got three more starting to come down on the top! Craziness!

5) I'm thinking of changing the blog up a bit. I'm toying with the idea of moving to Wordpress --because I dig the fact that you can categorize your posts. I also want to make my entries zippier --that is to say, write straight from the hip, expletives and all. So be warned! This blog will soon be needing parental guidance!

6) My latest book review is up boys and girls! Please take a look HERE! Once in a Promised Land is excellent and I give it a 2 thumbs up (in Z formation ;).

And that's all (for now) folks!

2007-01-08T21:13:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Folks!

This is my first official post of 2007. And of course I have to start out with some New Year's Resolutions:

Eat oatmeal everyday. This would actually require me to wake up a bit earlier so I can prepare myself a bowl and eat it (and feed and dress rockstar baby in the morning). Let's hope this happens.
Wash my face every night and do that whole night-cream regimen thing. Ick. I am so lazy. I'm just lucky my face hasn't erupted in zits! I was a lot more stringent with facial care when I was in high school then I am now!
Let go off people who don't add anything positive to my life. I'm tired of being the thoughtful one all the fucking time. No more. Unless you take the initiative, then you won't be hearing from me anymore.
Whine less.
Start exercising again. My goal is to hit the gym at least 2x a week. It shouldn't be that hard right?
Take the stairs to work as opposed to the elevator (6 flights). I used to do it all the time, and I can certainly start doing it again.
Limit fast food to 3x a month. My weaknesses are White Castles and Popeye's Fried Chicken. No more! Be gone!
Lower my cholesterol by 26 points! I'll give myself 6 months and see where I am. This is where the oatmeal is supposed to kick in.
Cook more meals. Contrary to what my parents think, I can cook and I'm pretty good at creating meals from scratch. I strive to cook 3x/week.
Eat more vegetables. I probably consume about 2,500 calories a day and hardly any of that comes from veggies!
Clean up the house more and get rid of clutter the minute they enter my house!
Avoid the mall like the plague.
Improve this blog.
Start a budget and stick to it.
Live way below my means and stop buying things I can't afford. Here's a little video we can all learn from. Hilarious, but true!

2006-12-29T17:16:00.000-05:00

Rockstar Baby's First Christmas

It didn't snow, the weather was a warm 55+ degrees in December, and Christmas 2006 went well as it usually does. I sent out our usual Christmas cards and packages on time (I usually aim to mail them out between December 12-15th so they don't get there too early or too late). Bought and wrapped presents for people early (usually just for our families and a few friends), and avoided crowded shopping malls. Each year, I try to take the stress out of the holidays by not making it a big 'to-do' and as they say, just keeping it real. Natch. So even though I want to be that person who bakes Christmas cookies and makes homemade cards, I realize my limits. We also bought a smaller tree --a 3 foot tabletop one so that rockstar baby won't be able to get his hands on it. But other than the tree, lights, and a few stockings, we didn't decorate our house that much.

Rockstar baby's first Christmas was enjoyable and I think he had a lot of fun even though he didn't quite understand the concept of the whole thing yet.

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family, and then Christmas Day with the hubs' side of the family. Of course, there was a lot of eating going on, a lot of presents, and good company. Rockstar baby definitely got the most presents --including a little red piano, a rocking horse, a cool walker, a play tent, and tons of other stuff! He also had the most fun ripping wrapping paper and playing with the empty boxes. He definitely enjoyed the small stuff =).

Highlights of Christmas 2006

2006-12-21T14:51:00.000-05:00

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I've been a (mostly) good person this year (if you don't count the road rage!). For Christmas, I would love it…

If rockstar baby started eating more. His cough is just killing his appetite and I'm very worried!
If rockstar baby gained 5 pounds. I want him to be a butterball!
If someone got me a box of Jer's Handmade Incrediballs –no, it's not something sleazy. They're actually chocolate covered peanut-butter balls with rice krispies all mixed in.
If I someone gave me a Bloomingdale’s gift certificate or a Starbucks gift certificate. It would really come in handy.
If I had thicker hair.
If people stopped making up words like conversate and truthability. Also, it would be great if people started to spell words properly and not use 'your' when they really mean 'you're' or 'they're' when really mean 'their.' And while we’re at it, can people stop using “quotation marks” improperly?! It's "annoying" =P
If I actually stuck to my plan of eating healthy and working out on a regular basis
If people actually took the time to write a little note on their Christmas cards instead of just sending it out generically (sometimes without even putting your name!) Okay, I'm asking too much. Yes, I realize people are too busy. Scratch that, Santa.
If the hubs took me out to dinner and a movie. I'm dying to see a movie in the big screen. Like The Good Shepard or Eragon or The Pursuit of Happyness. And.I.Can’t.Wait. for the TRANSFORMERS movie! I am such a geek.
If my cholesterol level decreased a bit. Yes, I know I have to be more responsible in terms of eating –I guess this goes with the willpower, huh?
If I got to see my cousins more. I realize that as family, we don’t necessarily have to be friends, but it would be great if they could take the initiative and make time to hang out once in a while and be interested in my life as I am with theirs.
If I got my old car back! I miss you my beautiful, speedy X5! Not that I don’t appreciate my new car… it’s just not the same. =(
If I became passionate about my job again. I love the fact that what I’m doing is serving the community and I love being in public service. It’s just that I sometimes feel I deserve more pay and am envious that other people make tons more than I do.
If I stopped comparing myself to others! I am thankful, really I am, but who doesn't have a pity-party once in a blue moon, right?
If I got out of debt once and for all (well, not counting the new car debt I just incurred).
If I had more time to spend with rockstar baby. Period. Oh, and the hubs too.
If I had the time to bake cookies and put together gift baskets for friends each Christmas.
If I could give my parents a wonderful gift like a trip to Europe to show them how much I appreciate all they do for me.
If I could pay back the hubs and my parents for always “spotting me” whenever I am broke. I would love to do the same.
If I could financially support our family single-handedly just because I can.
If I could go snowboarding sometime this season.
If the hubs and I can go on holiday with rockstar baby to somewhere really cool --like Greece!
If people become a little less self-centered (yes, including me) and realize Christmas for what it really is (and that it's not about shopping).

And lastly, Santa, I would love it if:

If everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year!

2006-12-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

Happy 10-Month Birthday to my Rockstar Baby!

Rockstar baby turned 10 months old yesterday! He has officially entered the double-digits stage and I can’t believe how much he’s grown. I haven’t really been good at chronicling all his milestones, but I do remember in my head some of the cool things he’s done:

Around September, at about 8 months old, rockstar baby learned to creep around (aka doing this awkward one-arm scooting thing). I dubbed him Gollum (of LOTR fame) because you get that picture when you see him crawling around on his belly, using his arms (of course rockstar baby is definitely way cuter than Gollum). He also discovered the art of clapping and pretty much clapped like there was no tomorrow. He also discovered gravity and realized that his toys fall when he drops them from his high chair. By the end of his 8th month, he began to stand alone and balance himself for a minute here-and-there. He also did a lot of babbling --mostly da-da-da's, ba-ba-ba's, and the occasional 'ma-ma-mumm.'
By his 9th month, he learned to go into a sitting position all by himself (without us propping him into a sitting position). He also began to pull himself up to a standing position. He mastered that pretty quickly and now he can also pull himself up to standing position with ease and sit himself back down (although he forgets to bend his knees sometimes and just takes a flying face-plant onto the floor). He does all this with a quickness and can stand up by just using my knee, a box, a toy –or any object he can hang onto and stand for several minutes by himself. It’s quite cool to watch him do it. But it’s positively heart-attack inducing whenever he falls and I’m not there quick enough to catch him. He also began to forgo the Gollum creep and has been crawling for the last couple of weeks. He's also started to string together his syllables and babble out 'da-ba-pa' and 'na-na-ba.'
Now at 10 months, he crawls with speed and just a few days ago, started to “cruise” and take a few steps by himself while hanging onto furniture! He successfully maneuvered himself from his favorite hangout (which is the TiVo stand), to our chaise lounge which was about 4 feet away. He also has four teeth (two on the bottom, and two big bunny ones on top), and is starting to eat adult foods.

He's beginning to become more and more of an actual person each and every day. He can voice his frustrations and anger ("BAAaaaa!") and knows his likes and dislikes (likes banging the TV screen with a golf ball, dislikes it when we take the golf ball away), and interacts with us in so many ways. It's just the coolest thing! I’m expecting him to start walking before his 1st birthday; I just feel that he’s growing way too fast already! Wah!

Unfortunately, though, rockstar baby has been quite sick. He’s been suffering from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) aka bronchiolitis – a respiratory virus, as well as an ear infection (brought on by bronchiolitis --the 2nd ear infection he’s gotten). He’s a very easy-going baby, but these past 2 days have taken a toll on him. Yesterday, he was super-cranky and didn’t want to play by himself as he normally does. He’s also feeding very poorly on account that he has coughing fits every 2 minutes which means he will lose some weight (and he's already a skinny baby). The pediatrician says this virus usually takes about 3 weeks to run its course. So rockstar baby will be sick during his first Christmas. My poor, poor, bear!

2006-12-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

So I Bought a Car!

After much deliberation, research, and pulling of hair, I finally buckled down and bought me my first car! Yehey! The hubs and I went to the dealer this past Saturday, and four hours later, I drove home with a brand new 2007 Toyota Highlander in Bluestone Metallic:

Check out the new hotness:

Up until the last minute, I was still considering the both the Rav4 and the Highlander. The Rav4 was definitely more fun to drive and a lot faster (more horsepower), but the Highlander to me felt a lot more substantial. Plus I figured I drive fast enough as it is (my mom says I'm a kaskasera); I knew that with the Rav4, I'd just be tempted to fly. The Highlander felt much more stable, smoother, and was a quieter ride. It also didn't hurt that they were offering a $1K rebate!

I bought the car for about $5K less than MSRP Price with the options. I got the car for under $30K even though the sticker price was close to $35K, and the price I got was hardly $1K over invoice price so I think I got a darn good deal considering all the options I got with it. We're talking 4WD with a V6 engine, heated leather seats, premium JBL 6-CD stereo with 8 speakers, power driver's seat, a third row, etc... I pretty much got a Limited Highlander for the price of a base model.

Let me just say though, signing all those papers was like signing my life away. It's pretty much signing on for a 5-year debt (the financing term I picked out). It's quite disconcerting, which is why I can't fully celebrate the whole new car thing. The whole ordeal was exhausting. We were there from 1:30 to about 4:30 pm! Poor rockstar baby was there and was bored out of his mind. Who can blame him? I don't know why buying a car has to take such a big chunk of your life away. Thank goodness I already had my price (care of Carsdirect); all I asked was can you meet this price and if the dealer had said no, I would've walked.

I still haven't taken my car out for a full drive yet since I'm a bit scared to drive it. When I drove it home though, I could already tell that a Toyota just isn't the same as a BMW. Then again, you can't compare apples and oranges, right? Maybe one day, I'll get to buy a pre-owned BMW...one day.

But here's some more news: Dumb-ass me already put a scratch on the back bumper! ARGHHHH!! I came home today and parked my old car behind the new car; I was inching forward a bit and gauged the distance incorrectly and BAM! Hit the new car. I.Am.Officially.An.Idiot. *hits-self-on-head*

Just a little update: The scratch is miniscule, really. You can hardly see it unless I point it out to you. But it's still there! Do'h!

2006-12-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

Schmoozing, Kalamansi Martinis and a Celeb-Sighting

I went to a Filipino Lawyer’s gathering last night at the behest of my pops. It was held at Cendrillon –a Pan-Asian/Filipino/Fusion restaurant in Soho. I actually thought it was a cocktail reception type of thing but it turned out to be an actual dinner with a number of Filipino lawyers. My dad was the ‘most seasoned’ one there I believe, and all the rest were about twenty and thirty-somethings. I haven’t been to any networking, cultural-based shindig/meeting in a long time. The last I’ve ever done is be part of the Asian American Law Students' Association back in law school. So it was very interesting to be part of that whole thing all over again.

I’ve been to Cendrillon a few years back, and the food was still good. They also had buko and kalamansi martinis which were very soothing and refreshing. The entrees were enjoyable and cleverly prepared, but not down-home Filipino cooking (so don’t expect that if you do go). Like I said, this is more of a Pan-Asian type of place. Cendrillon is owned by one of my dad’s old frat buddies (whom I’ve never met), but unfortunately he wasn’t there last night.

But who was there? Ms. Claire Danes of “This place smells like cockroaches” fame. A few years back, she caused a bit of controversy when she uttered that phrase (or something to that effect) about the Philippines when she was there to film Brokedown Palace. So a bunch of us whispered what she was doing in the restaurant! Hee-hee. Well I do like her as an actress even after that statement, but I no longer think of her as a refined or intelligent person. (What’s weird is I’ve actually seen her in person before in Los Angeles –they filmed an episode of her show “My So-Called Life” at my school. I didn’t see Jared Leto though! He was my crush at the time).

Schmoozing and networking is not my thing, and it’s even more uncomfortable with my dad next to me. I dunno why, but I felt I had to “mind” him for lack of a better word. He held his own though, despite the fact that he mentioned a few people he knew from back in the day that we younger folks wouldn’t have a clue about. I had a good time and met a few young attorneys I would actually like to hang out with on a normal basis. Like this guy Justin who was hilarious. There was also this guy there who apparently is my dad’s adversary in a pending case. I said out loud “is that the guy you don’t like?” Hahahah… well I only said that because my dad complained about the fact that he failed to show up in court a couple of times. I saw them talking to each other and I think they’re on cordial terms.

All in all, I had a good time and would enjoy meeting up the group again. I just wish it was more of a cocktail setting rather than an actual 3-hour dinner!

2006-12-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

So I'm Buying a Car (aka I Finally Feel Like a Grown-Up)

Though I'm 30 years old, I still feel pretty much like a young'in. I still act like a petulant teen at times, do impulsive things, still dream about what I want to be when I grow up, and pretty much act the same way that I did when I was in my late teens/early 20's (sans the boy drama and love woes). And even though I've accomplished personal goals and done "grown-up" things like buy a house, give birth to a baby, have a real career, become a mother, and all that jazz, I think that nothing makes you feel more grown-up than buying a car.

I've never owned my own car. To this point, I've only driven cars owned (or leased) by my parents. The current car I drive is a very nice 2004 BMW X5 which my dad leased for me (yes, my parents are very generous creatures). Well, the lease is up this month (the day after Christmas to be exact) and I thought that it was high-time to buy and be responsible for my very own car. So I'm doing all this research to see what vehicle is right for me and my family. (Of course, money is the big factor. As much as I feel that another BMW x5 would be tops, I certainly can't afford the monthly payments!)

Here's my top 2 choices thus far: the 2007 Toyota Rav4 Limited (4x4/v6 engine) or a 2007 Toyota Highlander (4x4/v6).

2007 Toyota Rav4 and the 2007 Toyota Highlander (respectively)

(photos courtesy of ToyotaUSA.com)

I think Toyota is a great company, and I figure you can't really go wrong and with choosing any of their models. The Rav4 is more to my budget, and it's a great deal. A fully-loaded Limited Rav4 is less than a base model Highlander. But I really liked how the Highlander handled on the road, and I like that it's a bit roomier (after all, we are a growing family). So far, I'm sticking with these 2 cars as my top choices. UPDATE: check out Carsdirect --you can get a car online with no hassle and guaranteed low price. I got a quote for a Highlander (with the options I want) for the same price as a fully-loaded Rav4!

I did, however, consider other brands like Honda and Jeep (for a hot minute because the hubs had a company discount). I also had to decide whether to lease or buy. I was initially going to lease, but I thought it was high time to buy something for myself and start paying a monthly fee for something I will actually own in the end. (And too bad that unlike a house, a car isn't an investment that will make you money).

Let me just say that doing research is exhausting! Learning all the differences between MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) vs. factory invoice price vs. dealer cost can give you a headache. A lot of my time is spent on the internet learning the ropes and comparing prices. I'm also filling out spreadsheets to figure out what I should offer the dealer. Check out www.carbuyingtips.com for amazing tips, free resources, etc. According to them, your offer to the dealer should be about 5% over dealer's actual cost. Edmunds is also another wonderful resource.

I feel so adult doing all this crap, and it's kinda a cool feeling. It's also freaking scary because I'll be responsible for everything --the haggling, the acquiring, the maintenance, etc! So if I enter a bad deal, then I have no one to blame but myself (of course, if the dealer was shady, that's a different story).

Wish me luck folks!

2006-11-26T00:53:00.000-05:00

My Post-Thanksgiving Post

So Thanksgiving has come and gone. I always think of Thanksgiving as an American tradition, but as they say, when in Rome...yanno? My family, of course, celebrates it. But we're not big turkey fans, just big eaters in general. For Thanksgiving, we eschewed the usual turkey and tried a turducken --a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey. It was good, but not stellar (I think if we had some gravy to go with it, it's would've kicked more arse). We also had lechon (roast pork), kare-kare, sweet-and-sour fish, shrimp tempura, and several desserts --including my pumpkin gingerbread trifle (which my bros and the hubs really dig), leche flan, and pecan pie.

Rockstar Baby's First Thanksgiving

Even Rockstars Get Braces

So it's only 2 days until B-Day...the day I get my braces! Yikes! As you all know, I had some teeth taken out a few weeks ago and it's all because I'm getting braces. Well, it's actually a whole, long story. Suffice it to say, I've lived with a few extra teeth in my mouth. After getting those teeth out, I now need braces to re-align my teeth. Luckily, I only need it on the bottom (plus, I can only afford one arch! LOL)! Otherwise, I'd definitely be called a brace-face! At 30! Wish me luck! I hear eating will uncomfortable for a few days afterwards...which would be great because:

Holiday Weigh-In

I'm trying to watch what I eat, but it's basically hopeless especially now that it's holiday season. When I went back to work after my maternity leave, I weighed about 110 lbs --a few pounds less than my pre-preggo weight. Now, I've re-gained about 10 pounds, I think. It's from eating out at lunch, eating the goodies people bring in to work, junk food, fast food, and the lack of daily exercise. I really don't care how much I weigh as long as I fit into my clothes and feel healthy. I certainly am not feeling healthy at the moment. I used to take the stairs to work all the time (6 flights) and be more active. I remember doing free weights, leg-pressing 150+ pounds, and doing countless tricep dips. Now I'm just a slug with a mom gut, flyaway arms, and jiggly thighs. Ugh. To add insult to injury: at 226 points --I have the cholesterol level of a out-of-shape 40+ year old person! I really need to get back into shape so can I run after rockstar baby without losing my breathe. Why oh why am I so lazy??!

2006-11-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

Confessions of a Bad Mom

It's official: I am the worst mom ever. Rockstar baby fell off his crib this morning and it's all my fault! For the past week, the hubs and I knew that he could already hoist himself up and hang on to his crib railing. We were already planning to lower his crib matress this weekend. This morning though, I placed him in his crib so I could get a few more minutes of sleep. Me, selfish mom, put *my* needs first. I got home late last night (bad mom was out gallivanting and didn't get home until 2 am), and then rockstar baby woke up around 3:45 am (which is not the norm). I had to give him a bottle to put him back to sleep. And then this morning, he woke up for the day at his usual wake-up time of 7 am. Still groggy, I had to wash his bottles and feed him. But afterwards, I wanted to snooze a little more, so instead of taking care of him like a good mom should, I put him back in his crib knowing full well that it was dangerous to leave him there!

Lo and behold. He fell. I heard a big, fat THUD and my heart sank. The inevitable happened. I rushed into his room and found him on the floor, on his back. He cried for about a minute and then was back to normal. But I felt so awful that I neglected him. Still feel awful. I called everyone I could think of: his doctor, my co-worker (who is a mom as well), my uncle (who is an othropedic surgeon), and my friend (whose husband is a resident). Then I brought him to a doctor who checked him over (thank God for Sunday hours)! Rockstar baby isn't the first baby to fall out his crib (or couch, or bed, or any surface a few feet off the ground for that matter) and pediatricians see these things all the time. But that doesn't make it any less painful for the parent. And I know this won't be the last of things that will break my heart.

Bottom line: rockstar baby should be fine. Should be. But that doesn't mean I'm not a bad mom. If I had just hauled my ass outta bed this morning, it would have never happened. My poor, poor, little guy! As a parent, you hope and pray that nothing bad ever happens to your children --but here I am, being the cause of my baby's pain. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic, but I feel really bad. I'm so sorry my little bunny.

2006-11-14T08:03:00.000-05:00

Of Reunions, Ninjas, and Baptisms...

Last week was a great week for me because of the following highlights:

I only went to work for 2 days! I took off Monday because I was still recuperating from my oral surgery, and then there were court holidays on Nov. 7 (Election Day) and Nov. 10th (Veteran's Day).
I had a reunion with my friends Trish, Girlie and Sol at my house on Nov. 9th. The Ferreras family moved to Atlanta this past June and I've missed her (especially since she’s one of the few friends I have who is a mom). They were here in town for the baptism of her newest little one, Annika. The other guest of honor was little Antonio --born just about 3 weeks ago! Trish and Girlie haven't met him yet so I invited them over for a dinner of kare-kare, crispy pata, and desserts galore. Fun times!There were 4 children in the house (all under 2 years old) and the hubs remarked it was like a daycare. It made me realize how much we’ve all grown up. Us girls all met circa 1995 over an IRC chat-room. Now, more than 10 years later, we’re still bonding! Plus, we now have a second generation to boot! Hopefully, the kiddos all become friends as well --we call 'em "Three A's and a J."
Then on Saturday night, I had an evening of fine dining at Ninja. Ninja is designed to look an 18th century Japanese village (birthplace of Ninja lore) with many different-themed rooms (I’m told that the Ninja in Japan is one of the harder restaurants to get seated in). My law school friends and I gathered here to celebrate my friend Annie’s 30th birthday and she picked this spot (which was coincidentally just a few blocks down from our law school in Tribeca). The food was excellent --I had the Kunoichi menu which featured the Kuro-Subuta: this incredibly tender pork dish which was delicious. I also tasted my friend's steak tartare dish and some spicy tuna rolls (the best I've ever had). I also had an excellent tiramisu bonsai for dessert. The best part was probably the presentation (which included a few Ninja tricks and some fire), and our waiter was an incredibly nice and funny guy. Expect to spend hours dining here (I was there from 8 pm to 12 am) and a lot of money. Check out a review here. If you're in the NYC area, I highly recommend it for great dining without the pretentiousness.
On Sunday, we attended the baptism of little Annika at Holy Name Church in the Upper West Side. The baptisms here are held without a mass and are done in big groups. There were about 10 children being baptized raging from 3 months to 11 years old! Afterwards, we had a great dinner at Mama Mexico –one of my favorite spots to dine in (check out their site because they even give out recipes!). They got amazing guacamole and delicious entrees. And again, the company was great! Rockstar baby was bouncing off the walls in this joint, but little Annika slept through the whole thing (including a mariachi band!). Thanks for inviting us Trish! We had a fabulous time!

But one of my favorite parts about this weekend was strolling down the streets of NYC with the hubs and rockstar baby. Rockstar baby kept trying to peek out of the "sunroof" of his stroller (we had it covered because it was cold and rain was imminent) and kept sticking his hands out. So cute. It made for great family time and it's clear just how much the baby has changed our lives. Even though he's only been in our lives for a little less than 9 months, we can't imagine it any other way.
Lastly, my latest book review is up and running! Check out my review of Only Revolutions right here.

2006-11-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

Older, Wiser, Hooters…

So I am at home today recuperating. I had oral surgery this past Friday and got 4 teeth removed –two extra molars that never aligned with the rest of my bottom teeth, a wisdom tooth that was growing sideways, and a canine that never descended (and was stuck beneath my nose). They put me under general anesthesia and needless to say, I felt like a truck hit me after it was all over.

I’m still pretty nauseated from the surgery and my gums are very sore. I wasn’t allowed to have any food past midnight after Thursday, and I have really eaten a full meal since Thursday night! I was pretty much debiliated on Friday and Saturday. I’ve been living off soft foods for the past few days and it sucks. Although having milkshakes do ease the pain (and nausea) a bit. I’m on antibiotics and Vicodin, but taking the painkillers made me throw up so I gave that up! Blech…

But on to happy news: Happy Birthday to my hubs! His birthday was on November 4th and we celebrated it yesterday by going to Hooters with his friends! Hooters, of course, is well known for its yummy….wings. The hubs hasn’t really been hanging out much with his friends post-baby and I thought throwing him a lunch with his friends would be enjoyable for him and great way for them to meet rockstar baby.

We had blast a Hooters (even though I couldn’t eat a single wing). We ordered more than 150 wings and then some! Win, one of the hubs' friends, is a big-eater (although he doesn't even look it) and ate 50+ wings and a whole burger! Damn.

Rockstar baby had a great time hanging out with the gang. He was like one of the guys and was a hit with the ladies. Fun times!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubs!

The Guys

The Gals

Rockstar Baby and an Admirer

First Halloween

2006-10-31T00:22:00.000-05:00

First Halloween
Originally uploaded by katdlr.

Happy Halloween!

I really enjoy Halloween.. love the dressing up involved, the kids trick-or-treating, NYC's Annual Halloween parade, the candy, the decor, and the whole-nine! I've had a lot of adventures over the years involving Halloween (including crashing a party thrown by an actress, getting hit on by a group of guys at the parade, getting trashed, etc.) But now, Halloween is no longer about me and my exploits. Now that I have my own little kiddo to dress up, Halloween's going to be all about my rockstar baby!

For rockstar baby's First Halloween, we dressed him up in three different costumes! Yes, I know. Overkill huh? Well, my mom bought him a pumpkin costume a few months ago so we had it lying around for a while. Then I bought him a monkey costume a couple of weeks ago because it was just so darn cute. Then a couple of days ago, I had the idea of dressing him up as Harry Potter! So here's a few pics of rockstar baby in costume....

Rockstar Pumpkin

Rockstar Monkey

Rockstar Potter

Happy Halloween Everyone! Now we're off to go trick-or-treating...

2006-10-29T09:47:00.000-05:00

So I Can Now Vote (and Other Weekend Snippets)

After many years, I finally became a U.S. citizen last Friday, October 27th! Yehey! Now, I don't have to apply for a visa for every single country I visit! At last, I can just breeze through! And of course, the biggest perk is: I CAN VOTE! November 2008 Presidential Elections here I come!

Me with my certificate

(poor rockstar baby fell asleep during the ceremony)

Then Saturday, my band plastiq passion had our EP Release party at Arlene's Grocery. What a fiasco that was! It was "the night we almost didn't play." We were scheduled to play at 7 pm, but we didn't get there until 7:03 pm. When we got there, the bookers were pissed and yelled at us and, and our drummer and bassist were at each other's throats. It was a really bad and stressful situation. After people calmed down a bit, we got the thumbs-up to go on, but it was a mad rush to do the soundcheck and all that jazz. I hardly even tuned my guitar! It was a mess, but then halfway through the set, things sorta smoothed out. However, we were still frazzled and we fucked up 2 songs. But I'm glad that a few of our friends were there to show their support.

Lesson learned: NEVER be late for a gig (even though we think no one will be there). Well actually, I'm a pretty punctual person, even post-baby. So I was sorely disappointed at my tardiness. Special shout-out to Christina and Phil for always being there; to Angie and Jules for coming to check us out; and cousins Mao and Ige for watching us!

Our EP: I Can't Wait

(most of) the Band

With my friend Christina --our biggest fan!

Sunday, I went home to Queens to celebrate my little brother's 16th birthday (a few days early). Gawd! My little brother is going to be 16 on Nov. 2nd! We went to this Chinese buffet restaurant that we always go to in Flushing, Queens. It's quite possibly the best buffet in the world. It's at least 100 feet long (with 4 tables, each about 20 feet long), with a noodle station, a peking duck station, a sushi station, and a dessert station. I always end up feeling like Homer Simpson when I'm done eating.

When we came back home though, this is what we saw in our back yard:

The wind blew our poor tree down! Now we have to go find a tree specialist to get it out of our neighbor's yard! Thank goodness we're on pretty good terms with our neighbor and that no one go hurt!

Have a great week! I'll be posting some cool Halloween pics on Tuesday!

New York Weddings

2006-10-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

The New York Wedding

gracewedding12
Originally uploaded by katdlr.

I went to 2 weddings these past 2 weekends. Both were in New York --one in upstate NY, and the other one in midtown Manhattan.

On Friday the 13th, my college friend Grace had a beautiful ceremony and reception at the Gardens in Catlin Creek in Slate Hill, NY. This was the first wedding that both the hubs and I attended post-baby and I'm glad we did. This place was amazing and it perfectly complemented her fall theme! If ever I get the chance to do an outdoor ceremony, this place would be it.

Grace is so creative that ladies and gentlemen --she created her own centerpieces, invites, place cards, children's activity buckets, etc! Yes, she even carved those pumpkins herself! She and her hubs, Matt created these beautiful yet funky invitations tied with twine and autumn leaves. Her centerpieces consisted of glass hurricanes (those large candle vases) filled with either corn, candy corn, or cranberries surrounded by apples and mini-pumpkins and a gorgeous garland. For favors, she gave away candy apples in a variety of flavors. Everything was so tastefully done and I can't believe she had all the time to do this!

She had an outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour, and despite the 30+ degree outdoor weather, it turned out beautifully! Yes, we were freezing our asses off, but we had a great time. I especially enjoyed the yummy Korean food during the cocktail hour. Also, the bride and groom changed into traditional Korean garb during the reception. Overall, we had an excellent time --what's not to like about great food, drinks, and a yummy dessert buffet! Congratulations Grace and Matt!

Then on October 21st, we went to the wedding reception of my law school friend Annie and her hubby Dan. Annie and Dan had a beautiful wedding (and honeymoon) in Italy. They flew into Rome and stayed there for a few days, and then had their ceremony in Positano, a gorgeous seaside town south of Naples, Italy. Then they came back home to NYC and threw an elegant cocktail reception. It was held in Opia Restaurant, right smack in midtown Manhattan. Annie had her dress tailor-made from Shanghai Tang, isn't it gorgeous? It's a take-off from the qipao, the traditional Chinese gown.

The reception was quite snazzy and it felt like nighttime even though it was at 1 pm. Annie and Dan had a lot of friends come in from Boston (since they went to BU), and it was a college reunion of sorts for them. It was great to mix with such an ecclectic crowd of people. I felt like I was in a cocktail party straight out of Sex and the City. Hors d'oeuvres were passed around, the liqour flowed freely, and the desserts were amazing! (I wish I brought some home!) They had these delicious creme brulee bites, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate souffle-type things, and these amazing pumpkin "burgers." Sooo good!

And us law school friends had a great reunion as well (minus our one friend Bryan who couldn't make it). Congratulations Annie and Dan!

Law School Reunion

Look at the desserts!

2006-10-22T08:20:00.000-04:00

Close Encounters of the Ignorant Kind

Encounter I:

'So what do you guys eat? Bamboo?" he laughs. I am taken aback and give him a look. I pause and reply.
"What do you think we are? Pandas? Please. We have some of the best foods in the world."
"Like what?" He asks.
"Tell you what, I'll bring you some tomorrow." And so the next day, I bring this 50-something year old, Caucasian male a bowl of menudo that my mom made. He gobbled it up in 5 minutes straight out of the bowl.

This happened circa 2002 during my judicial clerkship. He was a court officer assigned to the judge I was working for and made that stupid remark when I was talking about how good Filipino food was. Obviously he hadn't had any.

Encounter II:

"Our criminal justice system is similar to the court systems here in the U.S., " I said.
"Oh yeah? What kind of cases do they hear over there? Like how many chickens a guy stole?" My co-worker laughs whole-heartedly, as does another co-worker present in the room.
Gawd. "No, we hear the same cases you would expect to see here. Asshole." I fumed.

This happened only last year while working as an attorney. These remarks were made by another attorney who is around the same age as me –Caucasian (of Irish descent), law school educated.

Encounter III:

An e-mail written by a white (WASP) employee to another co-worker (of Japanese and Caucasian descent). They had been exchanging e-mail banter for a while and this was the end result:

my father told me never to fight a boy with braces. Pipe down you overgrown product of some nuclear fallout from hiroshima or nagasaki or I'll send my guy X to straighten your teeth out.

I don't think further background is necessary. Suffice it to say, this was written by one attorney to another. (And this email, I think, is racist by the way).

But this is not a post to say how racist people can be, because it's not. It just so happened that those above encounters were with people who have small-town mentalities --regardless of their race. I'm lucky enough to have lived in two very cosmopolitan and culturally diverse cities here in the U.S. –that being Los Angeles and New York. I'm also quite lucky I haven't had to deal with blatant racism since I've lived in such diverse cities. The racism I have encountered was from fellow minorities (but that's another post altogether).

However, I do encounter stupid people on a daily basis. Stupid people who jokingly or not make snide comments about other people's ethnicities and race because they lack knowledge and are simply not just cultured enough. Which is just plain sad considering these people all grew up here in America –land of the free, home of the brave, a country where people from other nations are desperately trying to live in. A country where all its citizens have numerous rights (so many that Americans always have this sense of entitlement wherever they go, which is both a bad and good thing).

But I'm not here to rag on them. Just on a select few. My point is this: hey, you grew up here. You have all the resources in the world. Get out of your small-town mentality and educate yourself! Why don't you learn about other cultures instead of ragging on them and making dumb-ass remarks? It just makes you sound completely uneducated. Go travel. Try new cuisines. Explore the world. Pick up a fucking book. Broaden your horizons. Be a little less self-absorbed. Don't be ignorant.

2006-10-17T06:56:00.000-04:00

Slice of Life Part II

A typical morning in the life of back-at-work rockstar mom and rockstar baby (although most days, there is only one disaster at a time). Part I can be read here.

6.30 - Alarm rings. Hrmph.... Hit snooze. Go back to sleep.

6.41 - Am awakened by rockstar baby’s babbles and gurgles.

6.42 - Go to baby’s room and play with him. I change him and hand him over to the hubs.

6.46 - Hop into shower while the hubs prepares bottle.

6.55 - Get ready. Hm...should I put on my clothes on now or later? Wear robe while still getting ready? Hm.. decide to put on pants. Will finish dressing later.

7.06 - Take over the feeding. Rockstar baby is bouncy and giggling. Easily distracted. I tell him stories while I feed him.

7.25 - Baby finally finishes his food! Yay! I burp him over my shoulder.

7.26 - Rockstar baby takes a big burp. What follows next is a steady stream of throw-up. I let out a high-pitched squeal! In my head, I'm going fuck.fuck.fuck.fuck! I hold him at arms length as he continues to upchuck. Vomit is going down my back.

7.27 - I am a deer caught in headlights. It is endless. I'm never seen him throw up this much before, especially since he rarely spits up in the first place. Silky, warm vomit pools onto my lap and meets the pool of vomit that has already collected around my butt. Vomit starts to drip from the glider onto the floor. I scream some more I think.

7.28 - The hubs comes up. Looks at me. Runs backs out to grabs gobs of paper towels.

7.29 - We put the baby in his tub on the floor. He laughs and thinks he’s playing boat. Surprisingly, there is no throw-up on his clothes. Just on his toes.

7.30 - I peel off my clothes. Of course the day I don’t wear a robe is the day he throws up on me. All over my just-picked-up-from-the-cleaners suit pants which I haven’t worn since month 5 of my pregnancy. Oh, and my newly dry-cleaned sweater. And bra (which was ratty anyway, so that wasn't much of a loss).

7.31 - The hubs and I clean up the carnage as baby enjoy his "boat." The hubs takes my pants and rinses them off.

7.45 - Still cleaning up the carnage.

7.46 - The hubs leaves for work.

7.47 - I change the baby, put on his clothes and leave him in his bouncy seat.

7.51 - Yikes! I’m running really late. I pick out clothes, change with a quickness, and rush to gather my stuff.

7.55 - Really, really late now. I always aim to leave by 7:35 am. I scoop up baby. We trudge downstairs, and I start to buckle him in his car seat.

7.56 - He squirms and yells. I hate getting strapped in! During the struggle, I feel some dampness on his butt. I pick him up and smell his butt. Of course. OF COURSE. Rockstar baby just did a poopie.

7.56.31 - Hm…split-second decision: change him here? Or have daycare change him?

7.57 - Argh!! I can't drop him off daycare all dirty! Mad dash back upstairs to change him. I change his poopie diaper and slightly poo-stained pants.

8.06 - Okay, buckling him up again and we are off! YES! We are officially OUT THE DOOR!

8.09 - We’re moving, we’re driving along. I sing songs to the baby and he makes grumpy babbles in his carseat.

8.13 - Ah! We are at the daycare! I drop him off and do my customary chats with the caregivers.

Caregivers: Good morning!! How are you!
Rockstar Baby: Ba ba ba ba! (He bounces up and down as I pass him to one of the ladies).
Caregiver 1: What time did he eat this morning?
Me: He ate around 7 am. But he threw most of it up. I think he just ate too fast.
Caregiver 2: Aw!! He’s not sick is he?
Me: Nah. He just got too excited. He might gets hungry earlier than usual.
Caregiver 1: No problem.
Caregiver 2: Oh where are his diapers and wipes?
Me: What? He’s out of diapers?
Caregiver 2: Oh we put it on the board than he needs them.
Me: Oh crap! How many diapers does he have left?
Caregiver 2: He has 2 right now. Three wipes left in the box.
Me: Argh! Crappy crap. I guess I have to go back.
Caregiver 1: You don’t have any spare diapers in the car or anything?
Me: No…. er. I’ll be right back.

9.31 - Walk into work. Am late. I hate being late. Oh well. What can I do?

Congratulations to my friend Sol who just became a mom! Welcome to the wonderful world of motherhood!

2006-10-10T07:38:00.000-04:00

My Name in (Virtual) Print!

For a looong time now, I’ve talked shite about wanting to be a writer and wanting to publish a novel one day. I have wanted to be a writer since the age of 4 --it was the one consistent answer I had to the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" When I was younger, I would write stories on a weekly basis. When I got older, my claim to fame was becoming the editor-in-chief of our rinky-dink school paper for 2 years, and being a one-time contributing writer to a literary journal in college. I also have never gotten less than an A- on any paper I've written, and most of my old teachers and professors have complimented my writing abilities. I can adapt to any writing style and was a pro at academic papers. No, you haven't seen my best work in this blog (since this is obviously a very informal venue), but I know I am an excellent writer.

But as far as my aspiring writing career goes, I haven’t really done crap about it for the past few years. The last time I worked on my novel was probably 2 years ago and I only have 2 chapters to show for it. The last time I’ve written a short story and got it published was in high school for Pete’s sake! In college, I sort of let the dream dissipate since everyone and their momma majored in English and wanted to be a writer. I got discouraged and moved on, even though my heart was in writing.

Well several weeks ago, after a bout of semi-depression and falling into a “woe-is-me-what-am-I-doing-with-my-life” funk, I did a bit of research on how to get into freelance writing. You would never believe it, but with one email I sent out, I was able to score a writing gig just like that! Ok, let’s backtrack. I didn’t score a gig right away. Rather, I scored an opportunity to write for a website! I wrote a book review to be precise. They said that if they liked it, they would use it and add me as a reviewer to their roster.

Well guess what?! The guy thought I did a great job! *laaaaaa-hear angels-sing* So my review is actually up and running. You can see my name in virtual print! And the best part? I now get to review books on a regular basis and they send me the books gratis!! Check out my review here and let me know what you think! (Please be kind...I'm still trying to find my voice).

Yeah, yeah, I know it's not a big deal. But hey, it's a big deal to me since it gave me a boost of confidence. It's given me the motivation to write more and scout around for more opportunities to write. Who knows, it may lead to more bylines and give me the discipline to start work on that darn novel again.

Special thanks to Mark Flanagan for this kick-ass opportunity!

A Crazy Night in Siberia

My band Plastiq Passion had a gig this past Saturday at Siberia. When I told my friend George about our gig, he said: "Have you been there? It's like a frat house basement that no one's cleaned for years." Well, he was right. It's definitely a no frills bar, and the basement does indeed look like the basement of a frat house that no one's cleaned for years. And the bathroom almost looks exactly like the bathroom from Trainspotting --you know, the worst bathroom in Scotland where Ewan McGregor dives into to find his lost suppositories? HAhahahah. And can I add it had no working lock?! But it wasn't that bad. At least drinks were only $4 a pop!

We were slated to start at 8 pm, but no one really goes to bars that early. So hardly anyone was there, but we played it up anyway and had a lot of fun. We even scored new fans --the bartender and the bouncer/admissions guy loved us! And I quote: "You guys were good! Great music! And we don't say that a lot. We see a lot of awful bands on a daily basis. Great job." I think it was our tightest set yet!

Next up: Arlene's Grocery for our EP Release Party on October 28th!!! (Yes, Arlene's Grocery is a lounge, not an actual grocery). We're excited because we're getting more and more spots in the cooler, well-known venues around NYC. After Arlene's, we're playing Lit! Sweet!

2006-10-04T15:16:00.000-04:00

I Heart Being a Mom

I’ve been reading a few blog entries (as well their respective comments) about some of the hardships of being a parent. Yes, it is hard, but it’s not the end of the world. I don’t have a lot of friends with babies. So most of my friends always tend to ask me “how is it like to be a mom?” or make comments about how they “can’t possibly imagine taking care of kids and handling the stress” or say “I don't know how you do it, but I’m not ready, I’m still selfish” or "I want my sleep" yadda, yadda, yadda. Some friends have even told me "I'm not ready to settle down yet. I still want to go out and explore the world." All these are perfectly valid, normal statements.

I myself how questioned my "readiness" to be a parent. Sure I was scared of the change. But for me, it's never been a issue of missing the party scene, or not being able to do the things I want. I figured, if something was really important to you, you'll find a way to make it happen. . My concern was more of finances and the fact that I act like a kid most of the time (ask the hubs). I have always loved babies; have a lot of experience taking care of kids; and I have never doubted my ability to take care of one.

The thing about being a parent is that once you do become one, your priorities will change, and the way you think will change. So instead of saying “I can’t imagine having a baby" –you just do it and you handle it. Is it hard? Yes, it’s freaking hard, stressful, and nerve-racking, but you’ll get over it. For the first 4 months or so, I thought I would never sleep again and that the baby would be attached to my boob 24/7! Will you miss your old lifestyle? Of course! The last movie I saw in the theater was X-Men 3, and the hubs and I have only gone out on 1 date sans baby. Will your life be more enriched once you become a parent. Absolutely. To me, having kids does not and should not mean your life is over.

The hubs and I have been very lucky with rockstar baby. So lucky that we think he's setting us up! We joke that our second baby will be the polar opposite! Rockstar baby is now 7.5 months old and he’s very low-maintenance. Here’s some tidbits:

He was never colicky (colic is defined as have crying bouts lasting for 30+ minutes with no reason at all).
He started sleeping throughout the night at around 4 months old (all it took was putting him down on his tummy, which pediatricians do not advise by the way).
We put him on a sleep schedule at around 4 months (bathtime at 7 pm, feeding, then snoozing) and he’s been abiding by that ever since --I highly recommend a sleep schedule!
He can fall asleep on his own when laid down on his crib (after his bath and bottle).
He can play by himself for long periods of time (we're talking 45 minutes) without pretend-crying for attention. But now we can't leave him alone on the rug because he'll roll across the room. We got him an Exersaucer and he luuurves it!

My only complaint (although it’s not really a complaint) is that he’s a skinny little guy. He's like a string bean as opposed to those chubby Buddha-babies. And recently, he’s been a bit high-maintenance since he picked up a cold at daycare. He's had a perpetual runny nose for the past 3 weeks now. Aw! So he’s been a bit fussier at night and wakes up every now and then because he can't breathe well. Other than though, he’s still such a sweet and easy-going little guy.

The hubs and I still get to do our own little things. We have our respective hobbies (the hubs loves golf, I have my band and still go to shows), we go out with our friends, we spend time with our family, we get our sleep, and we make it work. Right now, I can't even imagine life without my little smoopy smoo (that's my 151st nickname for him). And right now, I can't wait for the next one although I'm sure it'll be double the stress once you have more than 1 kid (and this post will be bullshit)! But I guess babies are like tattoos. Once you get one, you want more! (and I have 6 tats!) Hahaha....kidding, kidding. I know babies are nothing like tattoos --or are they? (Hm...they're painful when you first get it, but once you get through it, you really love it!).

Here's my little guy:

Notes from Backstage

2006-09-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

Notes from Backstage

Originally uploaded by katdlr.

I went to a concert at Central Park last night to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with opening bands Takka Takka and Architecture in Helsinki. The show was dynamic, the bands all sounded amazing, and best of all, I got to go backstage! I got to go to this show courtesy of my friend Julie whose boyfriend is the drummer for Takka Takka. These three bands are on tour together for the next few months.

Takka Takka has only played nine shows (in their current line-up) but you wouldn’t even know it since they sounded obscenely tight and crisp. In my opinion, their sound is reminiscent of early R.E.M. with dashes of They Might Be Giants and The Proclaimers with some indie-folk influences thrown in. Very different and unexpected. And their drummer Conrad rocks!

Takka Takka live!

Architecture in Helsinki is an (8-member) Australian band whose sound is very eclectic and quirky. They remind me of The B-52’s for some reason, (as well as The Rapture), with a lot of electro and folk-pop thrown in. They had a lot of energy and you can tell they had a great time onstage –almost as if they were throwing a party. They were a lot of fun!

CYHSY is a well-known band but I haven't really listened to them. I’ve only heard their songs briefly, but remember liking their melodies. These guys sound amazing live –their songs really come alive onstage (and listening to their album on CD does not do them justice). Their music is very upbeat, happy, and makes you clap your hands (really). How apropos, no?

I had a very fun time backstage taking photos of everyone. But the problem with being backstage is that you get the view of a lot of people’s backs!

A view of the stage	The guys of CYHSY take the stage

A view of the show from back stage:

Ah, the crowd!

Chilling after the show:

I didn’t really schmooze with anyone since I didn’t want to be a poser and act like I knew all about the bands (which I didn’t). However, I did go around and told band members that they played a great set. I was more of a fly-on-the-wall taking candid pics, but then this jerk made a comment about me being a “shutterbug” so I stopped taking pics after that.

In any case, it was great to see the inner workings of a big concert. It made me all wistful and pretend that one day, I could be up there complete with roadies and everything! I also got to meet some really cool people (like the members of Takka Takka, a singer from Architecture, and the drummer from CYHSY).

The last time I scored backstage passes was at a Metallica/Guns-n-Roses (combo) concert when I was in high school. But we only had limited access and didn’t actually see much action (we just had access to the catered food and not Lars Ulrich). So this was quite cool indeed.

Special shout-out to Julie and Conrad for making it all happen! Thank you!

Weekend Potpourri

2006-09-22T14:50:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: I accidentaly deleted this post and lost the comments.

tonswedding2,
originally uploaded by katdlr.

Friday, I went to the wedding of a family friend. My whole family was invited and my parents were one of the ninongs and ninangs. I went solo and the hubs stayed home with the baby because we're still at that stage where we just can't leave him with someone not in our immediate family. But when I got there, there were a lot of babies present! Had I known that people were allowed to bring babies (or just brought them anyway), I would've certainly brought rockstar baby! (But at the end of the night though, I was glad I didn't since all the babies got cranky and there wasn't a quiet spot to put them to sleep --rockstar baby's bed time is 7 pm).

The couple had a beautiful ceremony at St. Agnes' Cathedral and a nice (and lengthy!) wedding reception at the Floral Terrace. They had a really good band playing who did covers of songs by Shakira (i.e., Hips Don't Lie and La Tortura), Sean Paul's Shake That Thing; Beyonce's Crazy in Love, and other fun pop songs. It was an 8-piece band and 4 members took turns singing and I think they did an amazing job! Heck, maybe I'll play for a wedding band! A cool part of the wedding was the viennese dessert table --this translates to a variety of dessert stations including a cotton candy man, a chocolate fountain, an ice cream bar, a cake bar (with the wedding cake, layer cakes, tiramisu, etc.), a cherries jubilee station, an espresso bar, and two other bars I didn't even visit.

Another cool thing about the wedding was that I got to see my childhood friend Pebbles. Pebs and I grew up together in the Philippines and we've been friends literally since we were born (since our parents are good friends and we were born about 1 month apart). I don't remethink the last time I saw her was a couple of years ago, so it was good to chat with her. At times, though, I feel like I don't know what to say to her, even though we've had hundreds of sleepovers in each other's houses when we were younger. I'm trying to spend more time with her but she leaves for the Philippines this coming Thursday and I work during the week.

Congratulations to the Happy Couple
(Pebs, Anthony, Marianne, and Me)

Mi Familia

Saturday was spent at home recuperating. It seems drinking more than 3 alcoholic drinks nowadays triggers my migraines so I spent the whole of Saturday and today with a throbbing headache. Ugh. My mom came to visit and she spent the whole day playing with rockstar baby.

Sunday was another day of eating. I just finished having dimsum with a group of friends and we had fun eating and chatting. There was more talks of weddings during the brunch since two of my friends were in the midst of planning their weddings. I also have two more weddings to go to in October!

Congratulations to recently engaged friends of mine: Angie and Julian; Tim and Ade; and Phil and Christina!

And now, for a non-wedding related blurb:

I was tagged by Alternati to list 7 Songs I'm Listening to Now:

1. Icing Sugar by The Cure
2. I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At the Disco
3. Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
4. My Love by Justin Timberlake
5. I Can't Wait by Plastiq Passion
6. Bandages by Hot Hot Heat
7. Narc by Interpol

And that's that. How was your weekend?

2006-09-18T21:22:00.000-04:00

Saturday Night Live

My band Plastiq Passion played at the FMFB Festival this past Saturday at Blaggard's Pub. The venue was actually a nice, large, roomy, and respectable Irish pub in Midtown Manhattan. It just had this older, yuppie-ish vibe to it which made it a little different that the other places we played at. Maybe we're just used to seedy, punk venues. Haha.

We debuted a new song called “Standing in the Rain” which I wrote, arranged, and sang. We weren’t even sure we were going to do this since we’re still working on it. My friends have told me to sing more, but it’s difficult to play lead guitar and sing at the same time. But I’ll try my darndest to sing more, though.

All in all, we played a good show. We started out smoothly but I know we were a bit choppy towards the end. It was also hard to gauge the acoustics from where we were situated. I thought our sound levels were a little off, but oh well. And I was told that my friends could barely hear me sing (but I’m also soft-spoken like that!)

A lot of my friends came out which was great. I know my friend Girlie had a hand in cajoling some folks to come out. I always send out emails about upcoming shows but I really don’t expect my friends to come since most of them don’t even like the kind of music I play nor would they would even be familiar with our influences. I always feel apologetic when they come because I think they’re doing me a favor. I know I should just stop and let it be. I know my band is not the best band in the world, but I like our songs, we have fun, and that’s that.

Special shout outs to Girlie and Luke, Riss and Geo, Eileen Joy, Christina and Phil, my Tito Beng and Monica, and my cousin Mao and her friends for coming to my show! Hope you guys got a kick out of it! Do come again.

Plastiq Passion

- photos by G.

Groupies

2006-09-13T16:55:00.000-04:00

Simple Pleasures

Just some random, everyday simple pleasures and things that brighten my day:

Picking up my baby from daycare after work and scooping him up in my arms
Rockstar baby's wild, crazy grins and giggles
Hot fudge sundaes
Starbucks' Mochas
Strumming songs on my guitar and having baby tap his hands to the music (yes, he can do that!)
Smelling rockstar baby's yawns
Discovering that a Red Ribbon Bakeshop opened up a block away from work!
Discovering that a new Filipino fast food restaurant opened up a block away from work!
A good read
Listening to a new album and being very pleased with the music
Watching your favorite band live --and being only 10 feet away from the stage
A piece of chocolate
A mug of warm Milo after a long day
A cup of hot chocolate anytime
Getting comments
Smelling rockstar's baby's neck as I kiss him goodnight
Watching a flick
Getting a writing stint and keeping the dream of being a writer alive!
Weekends
A new episode of Project Runway, Prison Break, or Gilmore Girls
Getting actual letters/cards from friends
Starbucks' Brownie Frappucinos
My mom's pork sinigang
A nice fat juicy hamburger (I'm always on the lookout for a great burger)
Coming home to a clean house

2006-09-11T13:30:00.000-04:00

Everyone Has a 9/11 Story

And this is mine....

At the time, I was still in law school, doing my last year. My law school is right near the World Trade Center, and it was common for students to take the train to the WTC station and walk to school or go there for lunch or just hang out. I had a 9 am class that day, but decided not go since I wanted to relax and prepare for a job interview that I had around noon. So instead, I went to the gym and when I got home, my phone was ringing like crazy. It was the hubs saying go watch the news.

And we all know what the news was. At that point, the second plane just hit the second tower and I watched the TV as if in a trance, thinking that this all looked like just some weird movie. It was so surreal. They showed live footage of what was happening below ground –black dust everywhere; people running and crying; utter chaos. Through the TV, I saw the twin towers collapse and it didn’t seem real despite the words “LIVE” being displayed over and over again.

I couldn’t help but feel both happy and sad that I decided not to go to my first class that day. What if I was there?! I would’ve certainly panicked, I’m sure. And I would’ve certainly joined the droves of people who had to walk miles and miles to get back home again. I would have witnessed horrible things that I would certainly remember.

And the hubs and I felt very relieved that he decided not to accept a job at a company whose offices occupied the 94th - 100th floors of 1 World Trade Center. I would’ve been a very young widow indeed, since we just got married that June 2001.

September 11 was such an unbelievable day. I was bawling my eyes out watching the news, and felt so terrible for all the innocent lives lost. The WTC, the Pentagon, United 93. I remember being very scared. I also felt guilt for feeling relieved that I was spared all that. So many people were not so lucky. I’m not even going to talk about the political and negative ramifications of this event, but suffice it to say, it changed everything.

But 9/11 did result in a lot of positive effects –people learned to be kind again to one another; people took pride in their country and evaluated their civic duties; people learned to be strong and persevere. People finally stopped taking things for granted.

My school shut down for 3 weeks after that event (our power lines were affected and we had no electricity or water for a bit, I was told) and it certainly gave me time to reflect about my life and what I should be thankful for. This is the reason why I went out and bought myself a guitar and learned to play it all over again.

Bottom line is that 9/11 will be a day to be remembered for eternity. To this day, I get teary-eyed when I read people’s accounts of survival and the stories of loss and tragedy among other things. After that day, I didn’t step foot south of Chambers Street for a long time. In fact, it took me about 3 years to visit that site despite it being only 7 blocks away from my school.

I don't know when my next visit will be, but I don't need to see it to remember.

2006-09-05T20:27:00.000-04:00

First Things First

Today was my first day at work. I woke up at 6:20 am (although I had been tossing and turning throughout the whole night --excitement perhaps? Nah, maybe it was because I had dairy too late in the night. Hahaha!) After waking, I took a shower, got mostly dressed, fed the baby and got him ready. Then I finished dressing. We left the house at 7:35 am and I was at work by 8:30 am.

Today was the first day I wore a suit since February 16th! I'm lucky that a) I had one to wear! I had brought my suits to the cleaners last week and forgot to pick them up over the weekend. I'm also lucky that b) the suit still fits! Yay! I didn't bother to try any of my suits on post-partum!

I have a new assignment at work and my new unit is very different from my old one. I'm still in court most of the time --and this is why I can never work from home. I'm in court 4 out of 5 days a week, but I no longer have to prepare for trials. It’s a pretty good assignment coming out of maternity leave because I won’t be too stressed out.

Today is the first day I have to juggle the whole ‘working and having kids’ thing so for my first day as a working mom, it wasn’t too bad.

Going to work was a little surreal for me because for the past 6 months, I haven't really done much except take care of the baby 24/7. I felt like it was the first day of school for me!

And speaking of rockstar baby, I think we made our first mistake with him last night: we shaved off his beautiful hair! All of it! We had a little “mohawk-gone-awry” incident -–we were fixing up his mohawk but the hubs used a very short blade and cut off more hair than he thought. So he had no choice but to even out the whole thing.

Rockstar baby looks more like a little Asian refugee now than a rockstar!! WAAH!! But I guess it’ll grow back in… Hopefully! But I told the hubs that he is never allowed to cut rockstar baby's hair ever! Well, not until after his first birthday!

Oh where, oh where has all my hair gone?

2006-08-29T14:16:00.000-04:00

Music, Mommyhood and Mohawks --Oh My!

A Rockstar Moment: My band Plastiq Passion played 2 shows within a week. Last Monday, we played at the Iron Monkey in Jersey City, NJ. The Iron Monkey was a very cool venue since we played at their rooftop bar. Tons of Jesica's friends came out (but none of mine! then again I don't expect them to come all the way to JC) and it was packed! We played with our friend Kilsy who is such the rockstar!

At the Iron Monkey - photo by Stacy Moore

And then on Sunday, we played at the Trash Bar in Brooklyn as part of the "Pussy Rock" show --featuring bands with female frontmen and female members. The Trash Bar was another cool venue and I had a blast despite the fact that we got bumped to a midnight slot! (Heck, I didn't get home until 2 am and had to wake up at 6 am because the baby woke up early). I was so sleepy while waiting to go on, but got all energized again once we got on stage. Our set was smooth and I felt we played a very good show. Some guys even came up to me and said "great performance!" Little compliments like that mean a lot to us because they come from perfect strangers and I feel they are genuine. I t's always a plus to hear positive feedback. So if you'd like to give us some feedback, please check out some of our tracks HERE. We are currently working on our EP and these are just the (unmastered) instrumental versions. But please let me know what you think!

We have a very cool gig lined up this coming September 16 as part of the Film Music Fashion & Babes Festival (as well as celebrating the end of FASHION WEEK!!) We hope for a good turn out for this show, so if you are in the area, please stop by!

At Trash Bar with:

Matt - bass; Jes - vocals/guitars; Cil - drums; and Me - guitars/vocals

I Miss My Little Guy: So rockstar baby started daycare last week. On his first day (Aug. 21st), I dropped him off around 9 am and stuck around for only 10 minutes or so. I swear, I felt my heart breaking into a million pieces when I left him, but at least none of us cried. He's a pretty friendly and easy-going guy so when I left him, he was playing away and didn't even miss me! When I picked him up, he was all smiles and gave me a huge grin! Everyone says that daycare is a lot harder on the parents than it is on the child. It's all so true! But I worry so much about him --whether he's napping enough, or getting enough stimulation or eating properly. All these things run through your head! Gah! And how am I supposed to concentrate on work when I start next week?! I suppose you get used to it. At least his daycare gives you a little 'report card' of sorts at the end of the day chronicling how much he ate, when his diapers were changed, how many times he poopied, napped, etc. But it's not the same as being with him! *sniff*

First Day of School

Rockstar Baby got a Mohawk: The hubs decided to shave rockstar baby's head last night. We've been meaning to give him a little trim since his hair got long (again), and we've always talked about giving him a mohawk. So after his dinner (of green beans) last night, we gave him a buzz. Bad mistake since he was really sleepy and cranky. He was just not cooperating as his dad shaved his head. It took us a while to finish this very messy endeavor since he wailed, howled, and was just mad at the world and his mean parents. In the end, his hair sort of looks like a mohawk but we still need to trim the sides and the top. Otherwise, it's not too bad looking. I'm sure it would look even cooler with some hair gel! But no products for him yet!

Frontal View

Side View

2006-08-21T10:55:00.000-04:00

I Love the 90's: 1992

My parents’ house is in shambles at the moment. Our house is old (circa early 1900’s), and the pipes have never been replaced. A few weeks ago, a pipe burst on the second floor and flooded our kitchen with water, as well as the basement. We’re talking major damage here –complete with mold, massive structural damage, etc. Everything needs to be fixed, and my parents want to start from scratch. Our whole house has to be cleaned out and be put into storage so the remodeling can begin.

But I digress.

The whole point of this entry is to say that my dad dropped off about 6 boxes of my stuff that’s been sitting in our house since I can remember. These boxes are full of my crap –tons of books, memorabilia, and other things I’ve been hanging onto since the dawn of time. This includes my high school yearbooks. I went to a tiny private school in Los Angeles called Pilgrim School (we had a graduating class of 19 seniors when I left in 1995!). I started there in 1991, having gone to a huge inner-city junior high. All my friends went to other high schools, so when I got to Pilgrim, I didn't know a single soul and I was freaking miserable. When I started there though, I already had my own identity and my own views of the world. My life was outside Pilgrim, but everyone in school had been going there for years and the kids there were all sort of the same. It was a close-knit community, and I stuck out because I was new, plus I wasn't like everyone else.

Looking through these yearbooks made me all wistful and nostalgic about the past. High school wasn't bad at all, and I actually loved that time in my life. It's funny, I think I was so much more sure of myself back then versus my early twenties. And it's quite amusing to read the little notes that people sign in the back of your yearbook! It’s so funny to read them now, more than 10 years later! It shows you how people viewed me back then.

Here’s some blurbs:

“You are a very special person. Thanx for your friendship…I will always remember you…The girl in black…You’re very cool…and your individuality and
creativity gains my utmost admiration…”

“That’s a fresh piece of writing there! Even though we never started that
band, I still wanna jam with you sometimes. It’s been cool knowing you. It’s great to know someone who loves to wear black as much as me…”

“Well I’ll always remember the trademark black clothes. English was bullshit but we got some laughs…Your stories are fucking weird but I like them. They’re DEEP. Komkrit is forever on your jock but I guess you’re used to it! Have a summer.”
“Every guys desire. The girl in black. The one that wrote “The Girl.” The girl that likes The Cure. All of these sayings were just for you. You have a different personality and an unusual opinion of the world.”
My yearbook pic - 1992

Can you just picture what I looked and who I was back then? And check out those huge-arse glasses! But let me just say, that some things never change. So what people wrote about me in 1992 can still apply today! Like the fact that I still love The Cure, that I write stories, and that I love live music. It just took me a while to get back to my roots.

2006-08-17T08:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Half-Birthday to My Rockstar Baby!

I can't believe my little critter is 6 months old already! They were right --babies do grow fast! I can't imagine that he used to be half his size! He used to be such a teeny little thing. Now, he's on his way to becoming a toddler and is already acting like one. *sniff*

Rockstar baby @ 1 Month Old

-Here, he was still in his wrinkly and prune-y stage.

Rockstar baby @ 6 Months Old

-Now, he's filled out and looks all grown up.

2006-08-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

Motherhood and other Musings (as always)

D-Day Approaches: D-Day is on August 21 and that’s when rockstar baby starts his daycare program. WAAAHHH! I started looking for a day care center around April and settled on one near our house (so it would central to both the hubs and I). Rockstar baby was supposed to start the same time I went back to work (first week of September), but a spot opened up earlier than expected and we had to take it or lose it. I just know I’m going to cry my eyes out when he starts. Heck, how are people supposed to work all day and not think about their babies?!! At least I’ll have a 2-week ‘grace period’ in the event that I suffer from a nervous breakdown and just have to go check up on him. As they say, it’s actually harder on the parent that it is on the child.

The 'shrieks' come out at night: Here’s rockstar baby in video! He gets shrieky fits and it's so funny. You just say any word and he'll act like you've said the most hilarious thing!

The Yaya Sisterhood: Unlike in the Philippines, having a yaya is not very common here (unless you can afford it). Some bloggers from the Philippines)have talked about how they go here and there with their nannies. I don’t have that kind of luxury and I sometimes think that it would be cool to have someone help you schlep your baby around. I think a nanny would definitely come in handy if you have more than one kid! At the same time though, I like doing things by myself. People always ask if my mom or mom-in-law helped me during the first few months –they didn’t. It was just the hubs and I, and I liked it that way. Having a personal chef and housekeeper on the other hand, would be the new hotness.

The Curse of the Frump! Once they become moms, some women fall victim to ‘the curse of the frump.’ You’ve seen it, I’m sure. Extreme versions include the soccer mom haircut, the unflattering mom jeans or lived-in sweatpants, the haggard-looking face. Milder versions include the tendency to wear the same thing over and over again and forgetting to shower on occasion. I told myself that I wouldn’t be that kind of mom and always look presentable whenever I go out. Well I got the curse for a month or so after giving birth –when you are running on 3 hours of sleep on a non-consecutive basis, putting on lipstick and finding a flattering outfit are just not top priority. Once I got the hang of the ‘new mom’ thing though, I straightened up. But no matter how tired I am, I always have and always will take a shower everyday no fail.

Baby Clothes! One of the many perks of being a mom is buying adorable (yet sometimes atrociously expensive) outfits for your baby. I went to town the other day buying rockstar baby clothes for the fall season. My favorite store for baby clothes is Old Navy, hands down! The outfits are uber-cute, affordable (even when not on sale), and very versatile. This season’s collection even has a ‘Li’l Rockstar’ line! I was in heaven when I saw it! But unfortunately, some shirts I wanted sold out in mere days that they even took it off their website!! They had shirts saying: Mommy is a Rockstar. And I couldn’t even buy it!! Gah! Argh! So I bought other stuff instead, and also bought some outfits from Baby Gap and The Children’s Place. How cute are these?!

The jacket says: I heart rock!

Check out the cute elbow patches on the sweater, and cool kicks!

Here's some pics as well! Enjoy!

Look mom, no hands!

I Heart my rockstar baby...(the guitar is bigger than him!)

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Trish and Rol on their new baby Annika!

2006-07-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

Because of Blogging….

I've been blogging since 2003, and while blog-hopping, I have come across some really great people. Through their blogs, I've gotten to know them really well. So much so that some of these bloggers have actually influenced me in some way, shape, or form. So here's a little 'homage' of sorts to some bloggers I've admired and frequently visit.

I bought my first pair of Havaianas. I was highly influenced by Pam, the Nocturnal Angel who owns like, 100+ pairs of them. Now, I found myself browsing online and wanting to buy more! I think I'm officially a convert! Here's my first pair (one foot in, and one foot out so you can see the design):

Havaianas Fruits

I dressed head-to-toe in pink! I was challenged by Toni of Wifely Steps! (okay, I cheated! This was actually my Halloween costume from 2 years back! I was Jem --of the Holograms. Does this count?)

I am trying to be more frugal and am creating a budget courtesy of Pinayhekmi. I vow to be as fiscally responsible as her one day! She always seems to find the right balance!
I was inspired by Evi to create my own website banner, hence the one above. She created one for me last year which I didn’t get to use (although I use it as my screen wallpaper!) But the fact that she made one for me challenged me to make one for myself. It's not quite as polished as the one she made, but it's a start!
I really want to make a podcast for Ms. Bugsy. She's been quite supportive of my musical endeavors (without having even heard me yet!). Soon! Right now, we are working on our EP --we just have to lay down the vocals, and then it'll be done. I'll physically send you a copy, and then the podcast will be next!
I want to live in Paris like Kala! Okay, more like visit Paris and meet her! I went to Paris on a student budget back in 1999, but I really want to try to go again and see it properly.
I have found a fellow momma with whom I can chat with and share baby stories. Analyse has given me such sage advice since I was preggo, and I love reading her baby stories!
I'd like spend more of my weekends dining at fabulous restaurants, shopping at chic little boutiques, finding little treasures, and jet-setting to Los Angeles on a regular basis like Paz. She is the epitome of grace, style, and poise!

I really hope to meet these ladies in the flesh one day (and I've been lucky enough to meet Tin already!) In any case, there's my homage for now (and I'm sure I'll write another tribute to other bloggers in a bit).

10:15 on a Satuday Night

I'm home alone with the kid on a Saturday night. Rockstar baby's been asleep since 8 pm and I'm here watching flicks and blogging. The hubs is at a wedding without me, but that's cool since I went out last night to see The Editors!! Oh yeah! The show was absolutely great, and they were amazing as usual. The lead guitarist is such a cutie; he even joined the crowd and hopped off the stage during the last song! Hot damn. Hot damn.

Okay, I'm off to watch Elizabeth. I loved this movie when I first saw it in the theaters back in 199-something. Hm...theaters. I haven't seen a movie in a theater in a while! I am dying to see Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada, but I can wait until the DVD. But I will definitely run, not walk! to the theaters when the new Transformers movie comes out! It's going to be sick!! That, and Spider-Man 3. Two words for these two movies: KICK. ASS.

2006-07-24T20:24:00.000-04:00

There's a First Time for Everything

Rockstar baby's first haircut: We cut his hair last Thursday because it was just too much. It was always in his eyes (and I'd have to put a little barette on) plus he's a regular sweat ball; we thought a trim would cool him down a bit. The hubs did the trimming while I held the little guy. He was patient for the most part, but he wriggled a lot. The result was your typical Asian rice bowl hair cut (and we wondered why parents did this to their kids!) and no more rockstar hair. Click here for the full album --it's funny. Next stop: a mohawk!

First Snip

Hey, this isn't so bad!

Okay, I take that back. Where's my hair?!

Rockstar baby's first solid food: We fed his cereal for the first time this past Saturday. I think he found it interesting to say the least. Most of the cereal actually ended up on his bib, myhands, and his hands, but I think he liked the experience. We also got him this baby seat called a Bumbo (the hubs actually agreed to buy it for him) and it was very handy during feeding time since rockstar baby can't sit up yet on his own. Click here for the full album.

Open wide!

Bleccchhh!

Yum!

Rolling Over? Our little guy is 5 months old but he has yet to roll over on a regular basis. I know babies develop in their own time, but I know he can do it --he just doesn't want to show us yet! We know he can physically do it because he'll wake on his back or tummy sometimes (the opposite of how he started out). This morning though, the hubs saw him mid-roll, but after he completed it, that was that. It's like, he'll only roll over once and that's his workout for the day. Oh well.

I can roll over, I just don't want to show you (pre-haircut pic)

2006-07-16T22:46:00.000-04:00

Weekend in Pictures: Rockstar Baby's Baptism and other Events

Thursday: July 13 – Plastiq Passion Does a Radio Show

My band Plastiq Passion had a live in-studio acoustic set on FJS Radio last Thursday – 7pm (EST). We were featured in the special 80’s edition of the Urban Assault Show. I totally forgot to send out the news, but some of my friends were able to listen to us live! (sorry Ms. Bugsy!) We’ll have the show in downloadable format at some point in time. We had a lot of fun and fielded some questions. I felt ‘almost famous!’

With DJ Tasteless T (aka Tico)

Playing our tunes

Saturday: July 15 – My Friend Sol’s Shower

My friend Sol is expecting her baby in October. This is her first child and we’re all so excited for her. The bad news is that she’s been on bed rest since week 20 of her pregnancy. But the good news is that she and the little kiddo are doing fine and she hasn't let bedrest get in the way of the fun part of having a baby! She got a lot of love (and gifts) on Saturday!

With Girlie and Sol

With Sol, the Happy Momma-to-Be!

Sunday: July 16 – Rockstar Baby’s Baptism!

Rockstar baby got baptized yesterday at our parish, Holy Trinity Church in Fort Lee. He held his cool amidst 99-degree weather. My friend Karen was his ninang, and I've known her since the 6th grade. She flew in all the way from Los Angeles for this little guy. His ninong is my brother-in-law. I wish our church allowed more than two sponsors, but unlike the churches in the Philippines, we could only pick one of each. Otherwise, we would've picked more family and friends!

We have a lot of pics of rockstar baby in his baptismal outfit –which is the same one that both my younger brothers wore for their baptism. It was a big and exciting day for my little guy (and for his parents too!) Before you know it, it’ll be time for his First Communion! *sniffle* Click here for the full album, but here are some pics:

Rockstar Baby in his Gown

With the Proud Parents

With Ninang Karen and Ninong Shawn

Now, I'm off to dinner with Karen, Babs (her super sweet hubby), and friends. Plus, we are watching Wicked the musical tomorrow night!

2006-07-10T12:05:00.000-04:00

My Super Sweet 16

Attention: You are reading the blog of a thrity-year old! So if you were expecting to read the life and times of a hot-shot, jet-set twenty-something, then you are on the wrong pag! Hahaha…

So yup, I turned 30 yesterday. I had a great birthday weekend and despite my whining about getting older, I actually don’t mind.

At first, I wasn't going to celebrate my birthday at all. Then I had ideas of going out to a club and having a wild time. But who am I kidding? I decided that wasn't really my thing and just wanted something low-key and simple.

So I celebrated my birthday a day early and had lunch with some of my close friends on July 8th. We went to Jeeb, this little Thai joint in the Lower East Side, and had a nice, leisurely lunch in their garden patio. I really enjoyed myself and had a wonderful time! Thank you to my friends who were able to attend and gave me the coolest gifts! You guys are the bestest! Who, but my friends would humor me and actually get me stuff from my wishlist? I heart my super-generous friends.

Then on July 9th, the day of my actual birthday, we went up to Connecticut to celebrate my friend Luke’s 30th birthday (yes, we have the same birthday). Girlie threw him a surprise birthday and we joined in on the fun.

All in all, I had a kick-arse time and don’t feel old at all. They say 30 is the new “21” and that your 30’s will bring you the confidence, clarity, and the wisdom that you just don’t get yet in your twenties. I’m inclined to agree. I love my life and everything in it! I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Click here for my album of My Super Sweet 16 Party. (I was hoping that since it was my birthday, my pics would come out semi-decent, but no dice. I am officially, the least photogenic person in the world complete with a goofy smile).

Me in my Birthday Suit

Yay and I'm 30!

The Gang

Me and Rockstar Baby (of course I have to have a pic of him ;)

2006-06-29T22:14:00.000-04:00

Slice of Life

A typical mid-day in the life of rockstar mom and rockstar baby (although most days, there is only one disaster at a time).

10:15 am – Baby is starting to get snarky. Okay, time to eat.

10:16 am – Feed baby.

10:34 am – Baby pulls away, squiggles and is giggly again. “No more food? Are you full?” He laughs and flashes me a heart-melting toothless grin and I nuzzle his nose. I play horsey with him and bounce him up and down my knee. That’s when I notice that there is poo on my shorts. There. Is. Poo. On. My. Shorts. Fabulous. Rockstar baby has just POOPED on me.

10:35 am – Run upstairs to his room holding baby at arms length. Changing table fiasco. ARGH! Fuck!! #$!*&@#!!! Poo is on the table, the baby’s back, and of course, his clothes. And let's not mention there is poo on my clothes already. Emergency bath! EMERGENCY BATH! But first, where to put baby? Hm…I grab a dirty blanket from his hamper and lay him on the floor.

10:41 am – Run his bath.

10:52 am – Bath time is done. I dry baby, put on new diaper and clothes. I place him in bouncy seat. Time to wash his poop-stained clothes and mine. There is nothing fun about washing poo off baby clothes. Ugh. Note to self: invest in 'washing-poo-off-clothes' gloves.

11:03 am – Check on baby. He is wholly engrossed with his bouncy seat. Hm, shower now while he’s occupied? Think fast! Yes! I quickly jump in the shower.

11:10 am – Shower done. I quickly do my “beauty routine” (moisturize face, lotion up, put on clothes, comb hair and put it in a bun).

11:16 am - Waahhhh!! (Which translates to: “Pay attention to me woman!”) Ah! Precisely on time.

11:17 am – We go downstairs. I play with baby, read him a story, talk to him, cuddle him, and play horsey again. I heart playing with my beautiful, delicious, sweet-smelling, cheery, giggly happy baby boy.

11: 18 am - Stomach growls. Oh so hungry. But I continue to entertain baby. Stomach growls some more.

11:49 am – Put baby on his playmat. Turn on laptop and surf for a bit.

11:55 am – Waaah! Pick up baby. I bounce him around and entertain him. “Oh look, it’s Mr. Froggy. Hello! Say hello Mr. Froggy!”

11:56 am – Rockstar baby is not having any of it. He squirms around, arches his back, and yells.

11:57 am – “Are you hungry?” Waaah! (This translates to: “Yes of course I’m hungry, can’t you tell?!”)

11:58 am – Yes. He is hungry. I feed him.

12:24 pm – Rockstar baby is falling asleep! Finally! Eyes closing, eyes closing…yes! He is asleep. Hm…should pull out nipple? Or wait? Damn. Stomach growling. Okay, I decide to pull out his bottle. Slowly, slowly…yes! He stays asleep! Putting him down, putting him down, and yes! HE STAYS ASLEEP! Halleluia!!

12:26 pm – Go to kitchen for food, glorious food! (There is actually food in the fridge since I cooked dinner last night --super-easy salmon croquettes, I simply have to post the recipe at some point). Walk to toaster oven to pre-heat, and ARGH!!! Water, water everywhere! Fuck!! #!%$&*!! There is a major puddle of water on the floor!!

12:27 pm - I'm still screaming in my head. Where the fuck did it come from? GAH! A jug of water on my kitchen shelf has a hole in it! There is only 1/4 of water left in the jug. There is ¾ gallon water on my kitchen floor! Damn. I just want to freaking eat! Look for rag, none…shite. Go to basement, grab mop, and I mop away. Stop. Put salmon croquettes in toaster oven. Go back to mopping. And wiping with paper towels.

12:52 pm – Am finally done mopping. I can eat lunch! Put rice in microwave. Hear my phone ring. Brrring, bbrrring!! Shite! SHITE!!! (Note: I say 'shite' in a British accent in my head). Phone is near baby! I run before he wakes up. GAH! Too freaking late. Baby looks up at me and I freeze. If I stay quiet, maybe he won’t notice me. Hold breath. Nope, baby is looking around. With a quickness, I rush over to him. Am patting him, patting him, patting him. He goes back to sleep. Success!

12:57 pm – Put food on plate and I eat. Food. GLORIOUS FOOD! Gobble, gobble, gobble.

1:07 pm – Ok. Am happy. Well, more like I’m full so I’m ready to take on another round of rockstar baby. Hm, little guy is still asleep. What to do? I should wash the dishes, yeah, that’s it. Or clean the bedroom? Yeah, let’s check e-mail.

1:41 pm – Ah shites! Have not done a single chore. Ok, will do dishes now.

1:43 pm – Washing dishes.

1:44 pm – Waaah!! (This means: “I’m awake!! Why weren’t you here by my side when I woke up?! Entertain me! Chop-chop!”) Of course rockstar baby wakes up. OF COURSE.

Gratuitous pics of rockstar baby:

I didn't do it! (check out the Wolverine-like hair)

Chomp-chomp!

Me and my yummy baby

Me and my adorable baby whose current hobby is biting his lip

2006-06-26T12:05:00.000-04:00

The Non-Adventures of a Wanna-Be Rockstar

I went out last Friday night with my cousins and friends. Let me just say that getting together with my cousins is like pulling teeth. Between my cousin Zooey who is super-busy and never around, and my other cousin Mao (who just arrived here from the Philippines but is super-busy as well), it was hard to find the day and hour to meet up. Anyway, we ended up having drinks at 420 Lounge --this cheesy lounge popular with young grads in the Upper West Side.

But before that, my cousin Junior and I met up for dinner and shared an entire pitcher of sangria between the two of us (the pitcher serves 4-6 peepz!). At 420, we just chilled and drank some more. My friend Steve and his friends stopped by for a drink then headed somewhere else. Then my cousin Zooey and her bf stopped by as well but left to go to another lounge. I only had one more drink since I had to drive, plus I didn’t have a lot of money. The one drink I did have was already $8 and I just couldn’t afford to use my allowance on drinks! I remember talking shit and saying let’s go out again tomorrow night! I left around 1:45 am and I don’t know if they ended up at another bar. I didn’t get drunk (though my cousin Junior did!), but I did end up with a banging migraine for the next 2 days! Jeez. Fat chance of me going out again! Plus I was tired because rockstar baby did wake me up at 6:30 am the next day. Some kind of wanna-be rockstar I am! I feel so boring compared to everyone else. Then again, I'm not into drinking and getting drunk either. I was actually hoping to go dancing, but no dice.

Anyway, I am planning on going out again this coming Friday! I’m going to see We Are Scientists and I’m so excited! I luurve going to shows and bouncing around to the music. After that, I’m going to try to go to another lounge and meet up with friends. It should be a rockstar night.

Countdown to 30: Here's my next post in light of my upcoming birthday. Check out my birthday wishlist!

Me, Mao and Junior

With Z, Willie, Mao, and Junior

2006-06-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Auf Wiedersehen (for now)

I had dinner with my friends Trish and Rol, and their little kiddo Alex last night. It was their last official night in the Big Apple because they have moved to Alpharetta, Georgia. In fact, they boarded their plane today and tonight is their first official night there as 'Georgians.' We had dinner at Cafe Con Leche --a really great, homey and very inexpensive Cuban/Dominican restaurant in the Upper West Side. Afterwards, we went to Cafe Lalo's, which is one of our usual dessert haunts; our friend Girlie met us there.

Trish is a certified New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan. I met Trish during the wintertime of 1996. (And I met Girlie around the same time as well). We all actually met "on-line" via IRC --the old skool version of today's AOL IM. We met in one of the chat rooms (channel Filipino!! hahah). After getting to know each other through virtual chatting, we eventually started hanging out in 'real life' and we haven't stopped since.

Throughout the years, Trish, Girlie, and I (along with 2 other ladies we met on-line) became fixtures in each other's lives. We've been to each other's weddings, have been on holidays together, and have spent numerous hours hanging out in NYC. Who knew that 2 chicas I met on-line would become such good friends of mine? (This is why I have never scoffed at internet dating and never will).

Last night, I brought some pics of us that we took circa 1996-1997 and we laughed over them during dessert. (I am going to scan them and post them at some point!)

Wow, we have been friends for 10 years and counting.

And now, Trish won't be around which will take a while to get used to. We won't even get to see their soon-to-be-born baby girl when she arrives in August (at least not right away!) *sniffle* Trish, we miss you!! Good luck to you guys and your new life in the 'Big Peach'!!

Trish and Alex

Girlie, Trish, and I

2006-06-13T23:46:00.000-04:00

30 Things About Me (Continued, 15-30)

(See my previous post for the first half of this list and why I'm doing it!)

15. Despite my rockstar leanings, I cannot read notes. Yes, even though I took piano lessons for 5 years and my piano teacher wanted me to go to a music school.

16. But I can play by ear and watch other people play a piece and learn it that way.

17. I am a former fashionista. I have more than a dozen purses by Gucci, Prada, and Fendi and yet my everyday bag is my $3.50 satchel from Old Navy.

18. I used to dress a lot more stylish and trendier, but now my look is more ‘urban, laid-back, rocker.’ This really just translates to: jeans or a skirt topped with some sort of band or concert tee or a tank top.

19. But I do love accessorizing and I love buying jewelry like earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

20. Yet my favorite accessories are my black, rubber bangles. I wear these almost everyday.

21. I did not get to accomplish my goal of publishing a novel before I turn 30. Unless I magically finish a manuscript and get it published within the next 25 days.

22. I would still like to accomplish this goal before I turn 35. I’ve always loved the way a book can transport you to a totally different world. Of course it would help greatly if I actually wrote something. Ha!

23. In a similar vein, I believe I have read more than 500 books in my lifetime thus far. Maybe more.

24. I also want to start scrapbooking and document rockstar baby’s milestones. I have all the materials to start, but haven’t actually started a single page. It’s really hard to squeeze in scrapbooking while taking care of a baby all day.

25. I really want to be as skinny as my friend Girlie, but I accept the fact that I am not and never will be (unless I win the lottery and can suddenly hire a trainer, personal chef, and nanny).

26. Otherwise, I’m really happy with myself. Most of the time. Okay, ¾ of the time. Hey, we all have our fat days and self-deprecating moments. I think what I’m really worried about is looking old and busted.

27. I will soon become a U.S. Citizen! My interview will be at the end of July! I will soon be able to travel without having to apply for a freaking visa to every single country I visit.

28. My next travel destination is Greece and I’m hoping this happens next year. I am going to start a vacation fund as soon as I go back to work.

29. But I can see myself not even going back to work and being a stay-at-home-mom. Heck, I’m already thinking of names for our next baby! Even though rockstar baby can be a handful, I would like twins the next go round! Oh yeah. Bring it on.

30. As much I love being a mom, I do miss my old life, and the “just me and the hubs” life. But all in all, I think my life rocks. Talk about eclectic: lawyer by day, rockstar by night, and mom and wife 24/7!

2006-06-12T22:29:00.000-04:00

Countdown to 30

It's a little less than a month before my *gasp* 30th birthday! I am officially not going to be 'twenty-something' anymore. Ye gods. The years have just gone by it seems. I don't mind... that much. '30' is the new '21' after all! In light of my upcoming b-day, I'm going to post a few '30-related' entries within the next few weeks. Here's the first one:

30 Things About Me (1-15)

I am so happy to be a momma! Rockstar baby is quite possibly the best addition to my life (aside from marriage and all that fun stuff). He's the most beautiful baby ever with rockstar hair and everything.
I am terrified of getting crows-feet around the eyes! I may not wash my face every night, but I sure put on eye cream religiously.
I am HTML-illiterate: it took me forever to fix this freaking template and now, it looks just like my old template with different colors. Gah! (And don't even say anything about the archives).
I paid off ALL my credit card debt! Well, not counting the new balance that's staring me in the face right now, but that's because...
I am broke at the moment. As in I have no salary, no savings, nothing. I am getting by with the help of the hubs and my parents, and yes, the credit cards (if I really have to buy something which totally negates #4). Damn. I feel more like a 13-year old than almost 30!
Today, I ate 5 cookies, a choco-taco, 1 Crunch stick, and a mini chocolate scone. Oh and a frappucino.
But I now weigh my 'normal' pre-pregnancy weight.
And I can fit back into my Seven jeans! (granted, I can't breathe, but you gotta pick your battles).
I'm sad that my friend Trish is moving to Georgia in exactly 1 week!
I'm not a very confident person, but I am proud that:
I survived childbirth (feeling most of the pain, as I only got to have 3 hours worth of epidural-bliss).
I passed the bar exam in 2 states in one try (NY and NJ).
I graduated from an all-women's college and have a degree from an Ivy League University.
That I played at legendary CBGB's with my band (although it was not one of our better shows).
And we are in the middle of recording a demo. We laid down the drum beats last week. I'm so excited!

Part 15-30 to be continued...

2006-06-06T22:56:00.000-04:00

Some Changes

I decided to change my template a bit since I’ve had my old one for almost 2 years now. This time, I was determined to make my own banner and that I did. With my very limited Photoshop and HTML skills, this is what I have come up with. What do you think?! I'm not too keen on the color scheme, but it'll suffice for now. Of course, I’d like it to look a bit more polished, but hey, for someone with hardly any tech skills or free time (or hands! As I usually type with one hand nowadays), I think it’s not too shabby. I will, however, make a more refined banner one day!

I also tried to enable Blogger's commenting system, but after almost 2 hours of trying with nothing to show for it, I had to revert back to good 'ole Haloscan. I followed what Blogger told me to do to enable their commenting system, but no dice! Can anyone help me? *sigh*

UPDATE: Apparently, my new template isn't very compatible with non-Internet Explorer browsers (e.g., Mozilla-Firefox, etc.). In fact, it looks all weird in Firefox so I'm trying to fix it. Man, if I only had the tech skills! Please bear with me in the meantime.

I’m also making some changes to my lifestyle as I feel like a fat tub o’ lard. It’s been almost 4 months since I gave birth and I can’t use the “I-just-had-a-baby” excuse anymore to explain the flabby belly. Which is not to say that I ever had a six-pack or anything like that. It’s more like this: pre-baby, I can suck in my gut no problem and make it appear like I have a flat stomach. Post-baby: no can do! I am out of shape, but don’t really have the time nor energy to get back to the gym. So I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to walk at least an hour about 4x/week and watch what I eat. I’m also going to do some free weights whenever I can squeeze them in and do an exercise DVD once a week. (Okay, it doesn’t help that I’m currently chomping on a chocolate chip cookie as I type this at 10:32 pm!) Really, it takes some determination to change your eating habits. I have horrendous eating habits and it’s because I love food so much. But since I can’t go to the gym, walking and a little less caloric intake will have to do. Wish me luck!

2006-06-02T09:55:00.000-04:00

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Yesterday was our 5-year anniversary! Yay! Time flies when you’re having fun. The past five years have been wonderful and fun, easy-going, filled with laughter, and peppered with adventure and surprises. It’s easy when you’re married to your best friend, though there will be times when you are tested and stressed out (like last night!) Now, it’s going to be filled with even more adventure and excitement since we’ve been blessed with a beautiful, bouncing baby boy! It’s totally different now that we are a family. Last year, the hubs and I celebrated in Miami with friends. (Click here and look under June 1st, for the funny stories I posted last year about how we got together). Come to think of it, this is about the time rockstar baby was “in-the-works”…hahaha!

For our anniversary this year, the hubs and I went out on a date to Tribeca Grill, a restaurant in…Tribeca! Rockstar baby came with us as the “third-wheel.” I could not have picked a "worser" night to go out! It normally takes us 30 minutes tops to get to downtown Manhattan, but the traffic last night was terrible! The West Side Highway (which runs down the west side of Manhattan) was just horrendous, and to top it all off, it started to rain like mad. We’re talking torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightning! So we got to the restaurant late, and it took us a little over an hour and a half to get there! The hubs was not pleased, and we even stopped talking in the car. There’s nothing like traffic to get people all stressed out and moody.

So after an hour and half of driving, we finally got to the restaurant. I had asked to be seated in a “quiet area” because of the baby, and we got cozy seats in the back of the restaurant. We were seated next to Freddie Prinze Jr. of all people. The only movie I ever saw him in was Scooby-Doo, and I know him more as Sarah Michelle Gellar's husband. The hubs and I had fun pretending to talk to him. “So Freddie, I guess your new show got cancelled huh?” Just kidding! But he was a very cute guy in the flesh. He left right after we ordered our food. Then we made fun of the art work on the wall which Robert De Niro painted. They were paintings that were clearly just placed there because he was the co-owner of the restaurant!

The food was divine, the service was impeccable (and speedy) and we had a great time. I ordered the hamachi tartare appetizer special and the braised short rib; the hubs ordered the very excellent crab cake appetizer and the filet mignon. He had a glass of Cabernet and I had some Riesling --my favorite white wine. The wine certainly helped us to relax after being stuck in traffic! Rockstar baby was well-behaved and slept the whole time. It was a nice way for us to spend time together and have adult conversation. For dessert, we got the Chocolate Peanut Butter and Hazelnut Mousse cake. *drool* The food was excellent and very filling.

On our way back home, there was traffic again, which was not the norm! We had to take the local route to avoid being stuck in the highway. We got home at about 11:30 and the hubs promptly went to bed because he was beat, and I changed the baby and put him to bed. That was that. We spent more time on the road than with each other! Maybe I should’ve waited until Saturday to celebrate like the hubs suggested! But other than the traffic, we still had a great time! But I will certainly plan better next year!

The Hubs and I

The Chocolate Peanut Butter and Hazelnut Mousse Cake saved the day!

2006-05-29T16:52:00.000-04:00

My First Blogger “EB”

I had the pleasure of meeting TinTin (aka Pinayhekmi) this Memorial Day Weekend! It was also Fleet Week here in NYC so it was a great time for her to visit. It was so much fun meeting her and walking around NYC –albeit for a short period of time (I did have rockstar baby in tow and I had to go back home for a BBQ). I met her this past Sunday, along with my friend Girlie, and we had lunch at Cuba, a Cuban restaurant in the heart of the West Village. Poor TinTin got a little lost finding the restaurant, and I felt bad making her walk around and around in circles in 82-degree weather! Eventually, Girlie went to find her and she made it to the restaurant where we ate, chatted, took pictures, ate and chatted some more.

This is my first “EB” (and I didn’t even know EB meant “eyeball” until I asked Toni sometime last year) and it was a fun one at that! After lunch, we walked around the Village to take her to Magnolia Bakery –a small bakeshop popular for its amazingly sweet cupcakes (and made extra-popular by the show Sex and the City). When we got there, there was a massive line and we didn’t have the heart to stand there and wait. So we took pictures instead! We really did want Tin to have a Magnolia Cupcake though, so maybe next time? Then we back-tracked to get to Café Reggio’s (an old haunt of ours). Along the way, we even saw a Filipino Santa Cruzan parade complete with a Reyna Elena! Heck, who knew? In my 10 years of living here, I didn’t even know about this parade! At Café Reggio’s, we met up with Woody (Tin’s hubby) and their friend Scott. Unfortunately, I had to leave early but would’ve loved to spend more time with them.

Meeting and chatting with Tin was like hanging out with a friend I've known for a long time (and it helps that I know so much about her via her blog). She’s such a gorgeous, sweet, and friendly person (and I am a little shy so it was great that she was so open and warm). Do come back next time Tin! We’ll take you to more places to eat and go out dancing!

Tin, Girlie, and Me @ Cuba Restaurant

(again, pardon my goofy smile)

At Magnolia Bakery - Check out the line in the back!

2006-05-23T11:13:00.000-04:00

Motherhood and Other Musings Part 3

Rockstar baby is now 3 months old. He’s grown so much in such a short period of time. When we brought him from the hospital, he was like this tiny, tiny, little kitten. Now, he’s a rolly-polly guy who coos, chuckles, and makes a hundred facial expressions! Many friends ask me how motherhood is. It's a great experience so far. The first 6-8 weeks are probably the hardest, especially if you are nursing. There were a couple of weeks when baby was nursing for hours at a time! There was a period of time too when baby woke up every hour during the night!

Now, we have a routine going since we’ve gotten to know each other very well. I even know when to expect his morning poo and afternoon poo! Plus, baby is sleeping for up to 5 hours at a time at night --waking only once during the night, and once in the early morning for a feeding. But of course, the minute you think you know what you’re doing, that’s when other things pop up!

Lately, baby has been on a bottle strike. I’ve been nursing him about 90% of the time but will feed him a bottle if we’re out and about. But for the past week now, he’s refusing to feed from a bottle whether it’s formula or breastmilk. This is a big change. Before, you feed him anything and he’ll eat it. Now, when the hubs and I try to feed him from a bottle, he’ll scream bloody murder and cry and cry and cry. It’s so funny, the minute he sees the bottle in our hands, he will start squirming around, fidgeting, and making sound of protest. The other day, he even knocked the bottle from my hand! The poor hubs is bearing the brunt of this bottle-strike since he has to take care of the baby when I go out at night to practice. I’m also playing 2 shows this week, so I’ll be out at least 3 times this week. The hubs is even hesitant to celebrate our anniversary next week. Hopefully, baby will stop being such a rockstar and drink his bottle by next Thursday!

Other than the bottle issue though, taking care of rockstar baby is the best. I love playing with him and reading him stories, and I love it when he babbles back! He also enjoys taking baths, getting his hair blow-dried (since he has a lot of it, the hubs and I blow-dry it a bit for a couple of minutes), playing in his bouncer and swing, and loves eating his hand. I am already dreading putting him into daycare come September!

Other News: I'm back to playing with my band Plastiq Passion, and we're playing 2 shows this week! I haven't even practiced that much since I don't have the time during the day or night, so I hope I don't mess up! The first time I practiced, I couldn't remember my parts --and this was for a song that I wrote! Wish me luck!

2006-05-15T13:10:00.000-04:00

Mother’s Day and Other Reunions

Belated Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I didn’t get a chance to greet a lot of women since I had a very busy weekend. This past Saturday, we had a mini-reunion with some of my titas and cousins I haven’t seen in a long time. My tita and cousins from Kentucky were in town for a wedding and we gathered for an early brunch in Chinatown. My other tita from NJ was also there, along with my cousin Mao who just arrived from the Philippines. It's always a fun and boisterous event whenever my mom and her sisters get together. We cousins always get a kick poking fun at our titas because they are such crazy characters! Wish all our other cousins could've been there!

Cousins Unite!

Girl Cousins Unite!

Then on Sunday, we hosted a small party at our house for my very first Mother’s Day. We invited both families over and spent the whole day eating, chatting, playing Texas Hold ‘Em, and watching basketball. We gave our moms photo albums of rockstar baby’s first three months and they loved it.

Me and My Momma

Me, the Hubs, and Rockstar Baby

Rockstar baby gave me a sweet card that read:

Dear Mommy,

Thank you for being patient with me,

taking care of me, teaching me, and cleaning me up after I poo.

I'm very lucky to have you as my mom.

Happy Mommy's Day!

Your favorite son, Jakey

The hubs gave me a great gift: JBL speakers for my iPod! And a whole slew of thoughtful friends sent texts wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day. Thanks to my friends: Alina, Trish, Girlie, Jill, Sol, Jesica, Priya, Gail, and Dearly for the greetings! Thanks to Christina for sending me a card, Renee for a fabulous e-card, and Jaz, Analyse, Bugsy, and Evi for their greetings! (Thank you and sorry if I missed anyone!)

2006-05-10T18:58:00.000-04:00

Mom, I’m Sorry: True Stories from My Wonder Years

Growing up the eldest of three kids, I certainly bore the brunt of my parents’ strictness. First of all, I am female. Secondly, we moved to the U.S. during my adolescent years, so my parents were doubly strict: because a) I’m a girl and b) I’m a girl growing up in this whole new environment. I matured with a quickness since I had to help out with our new life here. This meant that I couldn’t go get pizza with my friends after school, but I could take public transportation by myself to pick up my little brother from the babysitter. This meant that I could not go the mall with my friends without one of my parents with me, but I could go the laundromat by myself and do the laundry for the family. So of course, growing up, I had to rebel in my own “still-obedient-to-my-parents-way” with a side of up yours!

When I was 12, I *trimmed* my little brother Eric’s eyelashes. He was 4 years old at the time. It was in part because I was sick of having to take care of him all the time, and partly because I was jealous that his eyelashes were way prettier than mine (and they still are, dammit!). They are thicker and curlier than ever. Serves me right.
When I was 13 and in the 7th grade, I ditched school for a day through an elaborate plan of mine, just so I could spend the day with this guy who was not quite my boyfriend, but someone who I really liked at the time (but of course, turned out to be a loser). Yes, I got caught after the fact and my mom did not speak to me for several months. She didn’t even let me go to school for a week. (Later that year, I finally did meet a boy worthy of becoming my boyfriend.)
When I was 15, I started my “Goth” phase and wore black all the time and listened mostly to “Gothic” music. (Aside: “Gothic” is in parentheses because the music I listened to shouldn’t really be confined to that one genre!) I dyed my hair every color of the rainbow and constantly got detention at my private school for breaking the dress code. I was sullen, mostly “depressed” because I couldn’t spend time with the boyfriend (or other friends for that matter), and loathed my parents for their strictness. Oddly enough though, my parents did like this boy and knew how much he meant to me (even though they were in denial about the relationship). A couple of years ago, my mom even asked how he was.
When I was 16, I pretended that I had school (even though we were off for a special teacher’s meeting day) and instead, spend the whole day with the boyfriend roaming the streets of Los Angeles. What a great day that was.
When I was 19 and in college, I started to “experiment.” I started to smoke cigarettes, drink a lot, and experiment with let’s say… some “organic” products. Funny enough, I was quite a late bloomer in comparison to my peers. Heck, I got buzzed off one Midori sour the first night I tried my hand at social drinking! Two years later, my mom found out about the cigarette-smoking when she caught me smoking a butt out in our backyard. So much for the breathmints and air freshener technique! But then she couldn’t get that mad since she was a smoker herself for several years before quitting, and I only smoked for a couple of years and quit.
When I was 20, I went away for a holiday with my then-boyfriend (let’s call him ‘The Loser’) and told my mom I went with some girlfriends instead.
When I was 22, I went away for a holiday with my then-husband-to-be and told my mom I went with a group of girlfriends.

As you can see, most of my shenanigans involved boys (but just to clarify, I only had 3 boyfriends in my life (the third is now my hubs). My mom doesn’t see “dating” as a proper thing for people to do (but if it involves people other than her own children, she’s so quick to be a matchmaker).

Of course in retrospect, I know it was wrong to lie to my parents. Now, my mom and I are close in our own way. It took us a while to get to where we are now, but at this point, yes I can finally turn to her and confide things regarding love and relationships. It started when I realized she needed to know how I felt about my then hubs-to-be. Now, we’re a little more open with each other. Growing up though, it was very hard.

I can only hope that I can be a kind of mother than my children can confide things to –even when it’s a touchy subject. My mom and dad did an excellent job in raising me. I know I am morally responsible because of them, and I can only hope to instill good morals in my children as they have done. I know they were strict because they wanted to protect me and I understand that. To a certain extent though, kids will one way or another get into a little bit of 'trouble' --it's a part of growing up and that is something all parents will experience.

Sorry for all the shenanigans mom! I swear, I won’t do it again!

2006-05-02T09:22:00.000-04:00

My Fridge

This pic is for Toni. She took a photo of her own fridge and invited others to do the same --thus starting the Ref Door Project! My fridge door, unfortunately, isn't as organized as hers, but it will be once I do a thorough cleaning on the kitchen (whenever that is! =).

My fridge has magnets that I acquired as souvenirs during my travels. There's not a lot since I only recently started collecting the magnets. Prior to that, I collected shot glasses from my trips (and I have more than 50 of those before I realized I didn't have that much space for them!) My fridge magnets hold up pictures and cards from our friends and family (as well as assorted coupons, receipts, etc). I also have random magnets from businesses, and a "vaci-wheel" that helps us remember when rockstar baby should get his vaccinations. I actually have more magnets somewhere, but can you believe I still haven't unearthed them from when we moved to our house in August 2003?!

2006-04-24T14:50:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday

I got a new haircut this past Saturday. I went to Salon 5, and this was the first time I have been to a proper salon in a looong time. I don't have a regular "stylist" or someone to go to for haircuts. My hair is very thin and fine and I figure no cut will ever change that. So I go to places like Supercuts for trims here and there. I've never been the type to go to their hairstylist every 6-8 weeks. Once in a while do I go to a salon if I want a change. I've been living in sweats and t-shits since becoming a mom, so I thought I'd try to make myself look fresh. Well, my new cut isn't so drastic, but I did get it shaped with chunky layers and some side-swept bangs. I like it! And I love the chica who gave me the haircut, so I'll be going to her from now on. I finally have a proper hairstylist! Next items on my list are a nice pedicure (it's open-toe season my friends!) and a facial for my poor clogged pores! I may even get some punky highlights later on!

Here's the cut though you can't really see the layers in this pic (pardon my goofy smile):

Last Friday, I went to see Plastiq Passion, my former band! Yes, they have tossed me to the curb since I took a maternity leave from the band! Boo-hoo! It's all good though. They said I can come back anytime and we'd just work out the new line-up. It was fun to watch them. My replacement, Deniz, was pretty good (though I'm still better! ;) and it was great to get out and bob your head to the music. They also had a new song which I dig. I'm going to start practicing again with them and will most likely do guest vocals at their next show in Hoboken, NJ on May 10th at the Whiskey Bar. Do come check us out! The best part of the evening was... I had my first alcoholic drink since June 2005! Nothing major, just a Stoli Orange and cranberry --but 2 of them already put me in a nice buzz! Talk about lightweight! I guess I'll have to work on my tolerance all over again!

My band without me

2006-04-12T18:22:00.000-04:00

Milestones

Rockstar baby got his first set of shots (immunizations) yesterday. Poor little guy cried, of course, when they put the needles in (there were 3 shots in total)! But he toughed it out and was fine as soon as they were done. Luckily, he didn’t get any fevers of anything that night, and he was only a little more cranky than usual. He was also weighed yesterday and he was 10 lbs and 6 ounces. He’ll be 2 months old this Friday. I’m trying to fatten him up since I feel bad that he came out so little (at 6 lbs, 13 ounces). Then again, he decided to come out earlier than predicted! He should’ve been baking more a couple of weeks!

Today, I took him to get his Easter pics done. I have officially turned into a parent who takes their kid to get photos done. What a money-making machine, I must say. I went to Kiddie Kandids inside the Babies R Us store near me. The cheapest package they had was around $75 without tax! Of course, silly me didn’t check out the pricing until after the pictures were done –I had just assumed they would start around $30 or so. The good thing is you can get pics a la carte – which I did. Since rockstar baby can’t sit up yet, he had to be propped up. He was also very sleepy since I rudely woke him up from a nap, so he didn’t smile that much. In any case, I think the pics came out nicely.

Happy Easter!

2006-04-03T19:02:00.000-04:00

My Fall from Grace

So I went out last Thursday to my first show post-baby. I went to see The Editors at Webster Hall. So there I was, in my concert-going outfit (not quite the hipster look, but concert-casual in my Vans, green army jacket, black skirt, and a black tee). I walked over to the street in front of Webster Hall to meet up with my friends when all of a sudden, SPLADOW! I fell flat on the sidewalk, knees first, hands splayed down, cell phone flying! I don’t remember tripping on anything; I just remember the falling part! Some guy picked up my phone and handed it to me as I sat on the sidewalk moaning and groaning to mask my embarrassment. But it did hurt though! The pain outweighed the embarrassment factor even though there was this cute guy who was sitting at a stoop and saw the whole thing. I sat next to him to check out the damage to my knees and he asked if I was ok. I didn’t think I fell that hard, but I skinned my knees and my palms. I haven’t fallen this hard since I busted my shin doing a rail while snowboarding 3 years ago. So I had throbbing knees throughout the show, but I enjoyed the show nonetheless!

My knobby knees (note the lovely purple bruises)

The Editors kicked-arse! We stood waay in the back on an elevated platform away from the crowds and had a great view of the stage. The frontman Tom Smith was truly dynamic (to the point of being spastic), and they sounded amazing! I took some phots, but no up close and personal shots of the guys. What a great first how to go to! There’s nothing like watching a band live to inspire you to live out your rockstar dreams.

The Editors

All the while, I thought of the hubs and my rockstar baby and wondered how they were doing. (Plus my boobs hurt like a motherf*cker and served as a constant reminder that I should be at home feeding the baby!) I didn’t get home until midnight and when I got home, the hubs was asleep with rockstar baby also sleeping soundly on his chest. The next day, the hubs said the baby cried the whole time I was gone (which was from 7:30 – 12 am) and he seriously contemplated on calling me and asking me when I was coming home. Poor baby! He missed his mommy! I guess this means I'm not going to this show I wanted to go to tomorrow!

Today: I went to my doctor for my 6-week postpartum check-up. To my surprise, I found out I weigh pretty close to my pre-pregnancy weight. But if I'm 116 lbs, then why the hell can't I still I fit into my jeans?!

2006-03-23T22:00:00.000-05:00

Four Things

Four Jobs you have had in your life:
1) prosecutor (current job)
2) judicial law clerk
3) sales associate at the gap
4) stock person at eddie bauer (my first job!)

Four Movies you watch over and over:
1) Stand By Me
2) The Professional
3) The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers
4) The Princess Bride

Four Places you have lived:
1) Quezon City, Philippines
2) Los Angeles, California
3) New York, New York
4) Fort Lee, New Jersey

Four TV Shows you love to watch:
1) Grey's Anatomy
2) Sex and the City
3) Family Guy
4) Monk

Four Places you have been on Vacation:
1) Madrid, Spain
2) Florence and Rome, Italy
3) London, England
4) Paris, France

Four Web sites you visit (almost) daily:
1) Gmail
2) katscrib.blogspot.com
3) babycenter.com
4) my friends' blogs

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Filipino food (especially when my momma makes it)
2) Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese food
3) Indian food
4) hot fudge sundaes and anything chocolate

Four Places I would rather be right now:
1) in a slightly bigger house with the hubs and my rockstar baby
2) maybe hawaii with the hubs and my rockstar baby
3) where i'm at is fine right the way it is
4) ....

Four friends I think will respond:
--well i'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to respond with your own answers!

Four kinds of vehicles you’ve had:
--never owned my own vehicle, though i have driven:
1) bmw x5
2) range rover
3) toyota previa van
4) acura vigor

2006-03-20T20:51:00.000-05:00

Odd and Ends

First things first, our little guy is 1 month old!
Prison Break is back! This is one of my ‘guilty pleasure’ shows. I admit the acting is less-than-stellar, but who cares when you’re looking at Wentworth Miller! Hotness! And speaking of shows, I’m also glad that America’s Next Top Model is back especially since Project Runway just finished this season. I miss Tim Gunn!
We Are Scientists is my new favorite band. They rock!
So I’ve been at home for almost 5 weeks now and sometimes, I get bouts of cabin fever. Having a baby will add at the very least, 30 minutes to your prep time whenever you go out. It takes me about 30 minutes to get ready to dress him, buckle him up, gather his things, and put him in the car! And so far, my little rockstar baby has the tendency to do a huge-ass, stinky poopy whenever we leave the house (as in right when we’re out-the-door and he’s already strapped in to his car seat!). Heck, going to Starbucks isn’t the 2-minute drive I’m used to. But once it gets warm out, he and I will be taking nice walks around the neighborhood.
I’m still wearing my Citizens of Humanity maternity jeans. Gah! I gained about 34 pounds during my pregnancy. I lost 12 pounds immediately after giving birth. Right now, I don’t know how much I weigh, but it isn’t as important as fitting into my regular clothing! I tried on my Seven jeans the week after I gave birth but alas, they couldn’t even go past my hips! I’m not in a rush to lose weight since I’m not even supposed to be doing any heavy exercise until 6 weeks after giving birth. My real goal is fitting back into my clothes –especially my work suits! Right now, I definitely have the “mom body” –you know, the thickened waist, pot belly, living in sweats (check out the pics below)! The hubs jokes about buying me “mom jeans.” Egads! No way.

Me at about 35 weeks

Me, 3 weeks post-partum

Here in the U.S., exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first 6 months of a baby’s life. And there are a lot of women who adhere strictly to this recommendation and lecture you if you even mention formula! As for me, I do breastfeed, but I supplement with formula. My only gripe is that this little guy has a HUGE appetite and has to nurse for a looong time before he feels full. I swear, he would be latched on to me 24/7 if I let him! He eats constantly, and I just cannot keep up. I am supplementing with formula to keep both him and I happy. As an added bonus (other than its’ health benefits to baby, of course), it does burn about 500-600 calories! (Of course, you're supposed to eat an extra 500 calories as well just for this purpose).
I’m going to my first show post-motherhood next week! I’m going to see The Editors at Webster Hall on March 30th! Oh yeah! I’m also planning on playing guitar again (so far, it’s been in the basement) and working on writing songs. Of course “planning” is the operative word here...because I just came to terms with the fact that:
Maternity leave is NOT a holiday. One of the major things I’ve had to realize is that maternity leave does NOT mean I’m on vacation. When I was still working and looking forward to taking time off, I had all these things I had planned to do (especially since I thought the little guy wouldn’t be here until early March!). I thought I’d have a lot of free time to take care of home projects (e.g., sorting out my paperwork and organizing my home office or having the time to re-organize my closet). The reality is that now I only have a few hours here and there for myself –and these hours don’t come consecutively either! So I have to do things piece-meal and see what kind of chores I can sneak in during the day while the baby sleeps (which is really not a lot).
“One of them” –I went to Panera Bread the other week for a late lunch (as in past 3 pm when we finally got there) and took the baby there in his stroller. To my surprise, there were a good number of women there also with their kids in strollers. A few looked at me and smiled. Welcome to the club?! I realized that I am officially “one of them!” I didn’t think I’d be one of those women in shops, looking harried, baby-in-tow! Now, I know why they look harried! I used to feel bad for those women (yes, I had an attitude about stay-at-home moms and scoffed at them). Now, I actually enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and dreading the day I'll have to put the little guy into daycare! Raising a kid is hard work! I definitely have a lot to learn.

2006-03-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

Motherhood. Mayhem. Musings.

3 Weeks Ago:

I was shopping at Bloomingdale’s and browsing through Theory’s spring collection.
I was tying up loose ends at work and managing files to transfer them to my replacement.
The hubs and I were still working on the baby’s room.
I thought I still had a couple more weeks to go until the baby’s arrival.
I got 7-8 hours of glorious sleep every night.

2 Weeks Ago:

The hubs and I brought our baby home from the hospital! It was a quite a scary drive knowing you have precious cargo in the backseat! I'm still aprehensive about driving with him in the back!
I actually felt like a full-fledged mom when we had to bring little Jacob to the hospital because he had jaundice –-he was given phototherapy and had to stay overnight in the hospital until his bilirubin levels went down. Even though this is a normal occurrence, I still felt so bad and worried over him!
I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep (and non-consecutive and that!)
My boobs hurt! (but they still have not gotten bigger. Phooey) Breastfeeding is not an easy task.

1 Week Ago:

I can actually multi-task while breastfeeding! I can read a book or eat a snack (some of the time, at least).
I take pictures of Jacob on an almost daily basis.
I got about 6 hours of sleep (still non-consecutive).
I actually got out of the house, ran errands, did some shopping (for baby essentials) and left Jacob and the hubs at home. They were still in one piece when I got back. I drove my car with the windows down (in 40-degree weather) and my music loud!
We started calling our parents lolo and lola!

Today:

I actually made breakfast for myself. But then had to eat it while breastfeeding the little guy.
I actually cooked dinner for the hubs and I!
I completed some medical forms to add Jacob under my insurance.
I changed his diaper about 9-10 times today so far –including one poopie gone awry! I had to rinse out a blanket and everything!
I washed my hands at least 10 times today. Talk about dry, chapped hands!

* * * * *

So it’s been about 2 weeks or so since I’ve given birth. This whole “mom” thing is quite a formidable task and my days as mom are so different from my pre-parenthood days. I have a son. Craziness. It’s weird because I find myself calling the pediatrician’s office and saying “I’d like to make an appointment for my son, Jacob.” It's still a little surreal to say "my son." Even though it's weird for me to say "my son," I immediately felt like a mom during my stay at the hospital. I even missed my little baby when they would take him back to the nursery for a few hours! I especially felt like a full-fledged mom a few days after giving birth, when we had to take Jacob back to the hospital because he had jaundice. At that point, there was no turning back. Now, my days and nights are spent taking care of this little guy. It’s not easy and we’re still getting used to each other. But one thing’s for sure –we’re already in love with our little guy and he’s growing fast! He’ll be 3 weeks old come Friday and he already looks quite different from the day we brought him home!

Jacob - 3 Days Old

Rockstar baby! Check out his hair after a sponge bath!

Getting some tummy time...

My little bunny...

I'm doing a poopie on the Boppy!

2006-02-20T18:03:00.000-05:00

Our Little Guy is Here!

Jacob Marcus

February 17, 2006. 9:03 am. 6 pounds. 13 ounces. 19.5 inches

I can’t believe our little bunny is actually here. The whole birthing process was a painful, yet surreal experience. All throughout the entire thing, I thought “I can’t believe this is it!”

All day last Thursday, Feb. 16th, I was at work and was experiencing some cramping. I thought I was experiencing “fake labor” pains (aka Braxton-Hicks contractions) because our childbirth instructor described labor pains to be something that sort of emanates from the back, rather than in the lower abdomen. So throughout work, I was in slight pain, but thought it would go away. I had a check-up with my ob-gyn that night so I figured she’d tell me what was up.

7 pm, doc’s office. Everything was fine. I was exactly 38 weeks and she examined me and told me I was 2cm dilated just like the last time. She said the baby can go anyday now. I told her I was experiencing some cramps but that they come and go. She said it was normal. So we went home.

After dinner, the cramps got worse, but I just walked it off. By 11 pm, the cramps were quite painful. Up until that point, I still thought they were just cramps, but then I also figured, why are they so consistent? I figured they were coming about 10 minutes apart. Still, I think I was in denial and tried to go to sleep! The poor hubs tried to hold my hand whenever the cramps came because all I did was toss and turn and did my Lamaze breathing techniques.

Around 2:30 am, my water broke! Talk about gush of water! So I told the hubs “we’re going to the hospital!” I called my doc, told her my water broke, and she told me to report to the hospital after I gathered up my stuff. Well at that point, I had no hospital bag ready! Heck, I didn’t even any baby clothes washed or anything! We had nothing prepared because we didn't think he'd come 2 weeks early! So we scrambled, threw stuff in a suitcase and headed to the hospital.

While in the car, both the hubs and I said “so I guess those were labor contractions after all!” They were coming in at 4 minutes apart and they hurt. I did my breathing, but realized there was no way I going to do this without an epidural!

3 am – hospital. I was in the labor and delivery room. In pain. I told them “epidural please!” We had to fill out forms and do blood work first before I got the ok for the epidural. By the time I got the epidural, it was about 5:30 or 6 am. By then, I was already fully dilated to 10 cm. Can I just say that the epidural is the best invention ever? Instant relief from the pain! And to think I was considering going “natural”! But by then though, I was almost at the pushing stage. The doc arrived shortly thereafter, and at 7 am, the nurse said “it’s time to push!” and both the hubs and I were looked at her in disbelief!

And so I pushed dammit. Pushed for 2 freaking hours. My epidural dose was low so I still felt the contractions coming (without the pain part). We pushed each time the contraction came. The hubs held me up, the nurse held me up, and each push was a team effort. I was ready to pass out. The hubs was ready to pass out! In fact at some point, he got a little light-headed and he had to sit down! The nurse had to give him some juice to revive him while I was pushing away! But then he recovered and we persevered.

I kept looking at the clock and saying “for the love of God dear baby, just please come out!” Each time I pushed, the doc and nurse kept saying they see the head and that’s what I visualized –that the baby was almost there. At the same time, I still couldn’t believe that this was it! Finally, a little after 9 am and very little of my strength left…. the baby finally came out!

After that, everything was a blur. Someone said “it’s a boy” but we don’t remember who. They placed him on my belly, the hubs cut the cord, and then they brought him to the side to get wiped up. The hubs hovered around him as he got cleaned, while the doc took care of the “after birth” and all that other fun stuff. Oh man, the carnage! But you literally forget all that pain once you hold your baby in your arms! Instant euphoria I must say, and the rest is history!

And now baby Jacob makes three....to be continued... For more pics, click here.

2006-02-13T22:10:00.000-05:00

Random Blurbs and Weekend Updates

Let It Snow! So my neck of the woods got a record-breaking 26.9 inches of snow this weekend! Both NYC and Connecticut set all-time records for single-storm snowfall. This past Friday, they were only predicting about a foot of snow; but come Sunday morning, we all woke up to a veritable winter wonderland! All this snow and I can't go snowboarding! Today would've been the perfect day to do it too since I didn't have work. Alas...next season it is!
Cabin Fever: The hubs and I stayed in all night Saturday and all day Sunday since there was a snowstorm and all. We were very productive though and worked on moving furniture out of the nursery-to-be and into our room. This is what we did: 1) Move our TV and stand out of our room; 2) Move our bed to the middle of the room to make space (this meant taking out the spring box, mattress, and pushing the frame); 3) Move a 9-drawer dresser and mirror into our room; 4) Clean the furniture involved and vacuum the floors; 5) Move back the TV to where it was, and then 6) Put the bed back together again. I felt bad for the hubs who had to do most of the heavy lifting (of the TV and the dresser), but I was happy to help. We also used furniture moving discs which worked great. The only time the hubs had to lift the dresser was to go over certain floorboards.
Baby Shower: My co-worker organized a "surprise" baby shower for me at work last Thursday, Feb. 9th. It would've been a great surprise, had it not been for the fact that she had to tell me about it because I actually had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon of Feb. 9th! Since I was planning to be out of the office, she had to tell me to reschedule my appointment! Haha... The shower turned out to be lovely, though it was a bit intimidating to be the center of attention at work. There was cake, drinks, and other goodies and there was a big turn-out. I received some very lovely presents including a kick-ass rocking horse from another co-worker of mine. I love it! And yes, I even sat on it already as did the hubs! It's the coolest thing, and I'll post a pic as soon as my Adobe Photoshop stops acting up.
What the Doctor Said: So during my latest visit last Thursday, the doc informed me that I was almost 2 cm dilated! Being 2 cm dilated doesn't really mean anything --you need to be a whopping 10-cm dilated for the baby to come out! So for me, there is no rush to go to the hospital yet. I have had no contractions (not even the “fake” kind aka Braxton-Hicks contractions), no pain yet, and am definitely not in labor at the moment. Most docs will advise you to go to the hospital for 2 main reasons: 1) when your water breaks and 2) when your contractions are about 5 minutes apart for about an hour (barring any other type of emergency, of course). Unlike in the movies where it seems water-breaking is common, only about 1-in-10 women have their water break spontaneously. Most women experience contractions at home and then go to the hospital. Yikes. I am so not looking forward to the pain! So I'm definitely on track, but who knows when I'll actually go into labor. Since I am 37 weeks preggo, the baby can definitely come at any point in time now --my family thinks I'll deliver a bit early. Let's see what the doc says again this coming check-up on Thursday.
Only 17 More Days to Go! According to our baby counter, it's only going to be a little more than 2 weeks before the little bunny comes! Physically, I'm pretty ready to have the kiddo. It's really feeling very tight in my belly --whenever the kiddo moves, I feel like my belly is stretching to the limits and the kid's going to come out Alien-style! Plus, getting a good night's sleep is harder to come by since I'm just not comfortable and even switching sides is a big production. Emotionally ready? Hm...that's another story and another post altogether.
Shopping Spree: Since I was cooped up all weekend, I went out today for a little shopping spree. So far, the shopping I've done for the past 5 months or so was dedicated purely to the little bebe. I'm still intent on getting stuff for the nursery and baby clothes. I've been meaning to get a rug for the kid's room and today, I actually found a decent one for a great price! Man, I love Target! To think I was actually going to shell out $300+ for a rug at Pottery Barn (I was willing to splurge a bit). I also bought a Valentine's Day present for the hubs today, and I splurged on a new bag for me. I don't know why, but I really dig the new tokidoki line for LeSportsac. I got me the Buon Viaggio style tote which I figure I can also use a diaper bag since it's roomy enough. I think it's cute and whimsical. Very non-grown up and very anime-ish (I'm a big anime fan).
Happy Valentine's Day! I baked some chocolate cupcakes today and bought candy to give out to my co-workers tomorrow. I also wrapped up the hubs' present. We're not actually going out to dinner tomorrow, but we are going to have dinner together this coming Friday at L'Ecole. I can't wait!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

2006-02-07T21:16:00.000-05:00

A Weekend of Decadent Eating

I'm a food lover –a food whore even! I love to eat. Even the hubs is surprised at the amount of food I eat. He said that before he met me, he never even ordered desserts when he eats out (nor did he frequent so many restaurants). I, on the other hand, love to try out new places (and here in NYC, there's always someplace new to go to) and re-visiting favorite joints. I don't discriminate. I can eat at a dive joint, a hotdog stand on the street, a fancy upscale place, a neighborhood diner, a trendy new spot, and anything in between.

This past weekend was all about eating. Friday night, I went out with my chicas Girlie and Trish and treated them to Aquagrill to thank them for helping out with our baby shower. Aquagrill is one of our favorite haunts. I also brought my other friends Jill and Chris along so they can try it. We had a great time and ate up a storm. I had spicy tuna tartare for my appetizer (and was thisclose to ordering oysters but I thought I'd save those for after the kid is born); for my entrée, I had Seared Diver Scallops with Homemade Potato Gnocchi, Sauteed Spinach and Leek and Wild Mushroom Fondue in a Mushroom Sauce. For dessert, I thought I'd try something new (I usually get the chocolate tasting platter) and ordered the Chocolate Crusted Deep Dish Walnut Pie with a Chocolate Ganache Topping and Vanilla Ice Cream. The other girls ordered different appetizers, entrees, and desserts --between the five of us, we sampled and shared each others' food and had a sublime time eating. Check out Girlie's blog for the other dishes we had.

Saturday night, the hubs and I went to out local Chinese restaurant Sally Ling's for great, authentic Chinese fare. The hubs ordered the General Tso's chicken (it's his favorite) and I ordered my usual pan-fried flounder with ginger and scallion sauce. Yum. Afterwards, we went out for ice cream at our local Baskin-Robbins. I usually go for a hot fudge sundae, but this time I got pistachio ice cream instead. Not my usual pick. I have pistachio probably twice a year!

Sunday, I had an amazing brunch at the Soho Grand Hotel with my law school friends. It was an appropriate place for a reunion of sorts considering the hotel is only a few blocks away from our old law school. The food was stellar! I've never been there before and didn't know quite what to expect. They had the usual breakfast spread that most places have (i.e., cooked-to-order omelettes; bacon and sausage; homefries; and melt-in-your-mouth pancakes). However, they also had mac-and-cheese, sushi and other seafood specials like shrimp cocktail, this amazing braised steak; sliced pork tenderloin; a whole slew of French pastries (chocolate madeleines! buttery brioche! and more!); tons of desserts and unlimited fresh juice and coffee. It was a bit pricey ($30 per person), but worth it in my opinion! Heck, I should've brought a ziploc baggie so I can take some of the madeleines home! Hehehe...I am not beyond "pilfering" buffet food. I am a food lover after all! I liked the brunch so much that I'm toying with the idea of bringing the hubs there for Valentine's Day (but on a Sunday) instead of going through with our reservations as L'Ecole. We'll see.

L'Ecole is the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute here in NYC that serves pre-fixed dinners. I've never been and always wanted to go and I made reservations for Feb. 17th --partly to celebrate Valentine's Day, and partly to celebrate my last day at work. I'll let you know how it is!

Since I love food so much, I hinted to the hubs (well, more like told him point-blank) that instead of flowers, he should get me some edible treats. I found so many cute places your can order Valentine's day gifts from. Here's a few you should check out:

I'm also going to tell my friends that in lieu of flowers, they should send me edible treats at the hospital when I give birth. Did you know you can't eat or drink at all during labor? And you have no idea how long your labor will be! So I'll definitely be starving! This is when a great basket of baked goodies will come in handy! *hint-hint*

2006-01-31T20:12:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Potpourri #2

1. I'm starting to feel the fatigue that they say preggo women get. It started a few weeks ago. So far, my pregnancy has been very smooth and non-eventful (aside from #2 below). I didn't get morning sickness, didn't get sleepy and tired during the first trimester, and so far, I have not gotten the puffy legs and swollen ankles that some women experience. But now that I'm in the home stretch, I do feel more tired that usual. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, but now I think I need at least 8 hours. I'm tired at work by 3 pm (and not the usual tiredness one feels at work). I'm tired as in I need a nap and my belly feels very heavy. Somedays, I even wake up with my belly very crampy and already heavy (like it's about to fall down or something!). At work, I walk around like a penguin by the end of the day and my feet are killing me by the afternoon! Wearing heels (even my low 1.5 inch ones) is a pain and even my maternity jeans are too tight to be comfortable.

2. The hubs and I had a mini-discussion about the car seats. We registered for a car seat and got the Britax Companion Infant Car Seat. As far as car seats go, it's considered top-of-the-line because of all its safety features (hence it's pricey-ness). It also fits the stroller we registered for (the Britax Preview Stroller) and functions as a complete travel system (i.e., the car seat fits onto the stroller). The discussion we had was over the whole infant seat versus convertible car seat issue. A convertible car seat is designed to fit babies 5 pounds to 30 pounds when it is rear-facing and then you can "convert" it to a forward-facing car seat once the kid is about 30+ pounds up until he/she is a toddler (some fit toddlers up to 65 pounds). An infant seat is usually good only until the baby is about 20-22 pounds. The obvious benefit to having a convertible car seat is that you don't have to buy a new one once the baby is over 20 pounds. However, convertible car seats aren't a good fit for newborns and are not easily portable. An infant car seat can be detached from it's base and you can use it to carry the baby around (or attach the seat to a stroller). Most people say that if you can afford an infant car seat, then why not go for it? Anyone have any opinions?

3. The hubs and I have been taking childbirth classes (aka Lamaze classes). It's a 6-week course and we go once a week. Tomorrow will be our 4th class. So far, it's been ok. It's been educational in terms of what to expect when it comes to labor, and they teach you breathing methods to help manage labor pains. I just don't know how on earth you can manage to employ the breathing methods once you are in labor! They showed us an old video (we're talking circa 1981) the other day of women in labor and then giving birth. One lady did not have an epidural at all and she was able to manage her pain quite well. I haven't quite decided on whether or not to get an epidural. I haven't even made up a birth plan yet. For the most part, women nowaways treat it as the norm --but this wasn't the case as early as 10 years ago. I'm going to do the wait-and-see method --if I can handle it, then I won't get one. If I get too tired and my labor isn't progressing, then I will probably get one. If labor is a bitch, I will certainly get one --heck I'm not trying to be a hero. But like I said, if I can manage the pain and I'm progressing well, then I'm down with natural childbirth. Of course, this is just me talking shit at the moment. All bets are off when the real thing comes!

4. I am so looking forward to my maternity leave! I cannot wait! Especially after today since I had a case from hell (and am still in the middle of it). I was originally going to work up until the weekend before my due date, March 2nd. However, I changed my mind after I heard about my co-worker's story of how her water broke about a month early as she was driving to work. I'd rather stay at home when that happens! Also, I figured I may as well relax and take some "me" time because I won't have time to do that once the little bunny arrives! There's nothing wrong with taking time off and being leisurely. So I'm taking about 1.5 weeks off before my due date. Of course the baby may come early or late, but I certainly don't want to be at work when anything happens!

5. The hubs and I have been preparing the little bunny's room. We painted it a neutral beige around November/December (I did one coat and the hubs did the finishing coat) and then the hubs put up a border earlier in January. I chose a Classic Pooh theme because I like it and the designs are not overly "cutesy." So far, the room's a bit of a mess since we just crammed all the stuff we got from our shower in the room; for a while, it was just spewed all over the floor. I recently re-arranged it and unpacked some stuff. It looks a lot better now, but still not complete. We're waiting for a crib and a dresser (for the kid's clothes) and it should be done. I can't wait to work on it when I go on leave.

Okay, I think that's enough stuff for now. More updates to come.

2006-01-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

Our Baby-on-the-Way Party….

Bottles and booties, diapers and more,
Let’s shower the parents with baby gifts galore!

This past Saturday was our baby-on-the-way party/shower. My mom and friends Girlie and Trish organized the festivities and it turned out great! I didn’t want a shower where there were only ladies present. The hubs and I wanted to have a big fiesta with all our friends there, but we didn’t want it to be in some hall or restaurant. Luckily, my aunt was gracious enough to let us use her lovely home for the party!

We had a great turnout. There were about 60+ people I would say (even with a few cancellations the day of the party). There was tons of food: chicken satay, pork BBQ, beef kaldereta, Thai fried rice, breaded shrimp, baked ziti, plus ginatan and cassava cake for dessert. There were lots of activities such as the baby trivia game where guests got divided up into teams and the team captain (dressed as a baby!) had to run to the front to deliver the answer. This resulted in a stampede and lots of yelling and craziness! We also had boxes where people could enter and win a prize if they guess the sex and weight of the baby and guess the baby’s birth date and time correctly. We also put out a photomat for people to sign (in lieu of a guest book).

The hubs and I had a lot of fun and were really happy to have our good friends there to share the day with us. We also received a lot of fabulous gifts from very generous people! Baby gifts are definitely a perk to look forward to when you’re expecting! We’ve been getting numerous packages in the mail (we have tons of boxes to pull apart and recycle), and we received even more presents on the day of the shower.

Thank you to all our friends and family for being there! Thank you to Girlie and Trish who put in a lot of time and effort in making our shower one fun, memorable party (the three of us personally handmade most of the decorations and they came out beautifully)! Thank you also to our parents (the future grandparents) for the food, the cake, and all their help!

The invitation

Cake

Diaper Cake that Trish made!

Gifts Galore!

Baby Trivia: Who knows the answer?

The hubs and I with the future grandparents

Girlie, Trish (and baby Alex), and Moi

Five Locas United! (Girlie, Sol, Me, Gail, and Trish)

Future Mom and Dad

Click here for more pictures.

2006-01-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

A Life Less Ordinary

I started 2005 looking to live a life less ordinary. Did I succeed? In many ways, yes. I tried to incorporate new things into my life that would challenge me, make me happy with myself, and make me feel more rounded as a person. Here are some of my 2005 Highlights:

Traveling:

Florence and Rome, Italy: this can be summed up in a short phrase --food, culture, art, oh my!
Breckenridge, Colorado: there’s nothing like riding on sweet powder (albeit in 10-degree weather) and taking a holiday with a large group of friends.
Miami, Florida: 3 separate trips (bachelorette party, with 2 other couples, and one last trip with just me and the hubs –all great experiences)
Caribbean Cruise to the Bahamas, Belize, and the Cayman Islands.

Financial Progress:

I religiously put away $150/month into my ROTH IRA account.
I religiously paid off at least $800/month worth of credit card bills (I have not paid off all my debt yet, but it’s getting there...It’s getting there).
I religiously put away $250/month into my savings account (which I deplete from time to time to pay off credit cards bills, but come April, I believe I don’t have to sacrifice 90% of my salary to the credit card gods!)

Hobbies/Interests/Passions:

continued playing in a band. Played actual gigs in front of actual people! Played at legendary CBGB’s!
read tons of books, and I mean tons. I don’t even know how many.
spent a lot of time with friends, tried a few new restaurants, saw a lot of shows/concerts including: Interpol, Depeche Mode, Bloc Party, etc.
got exposed to a lot of great new music!
threw a "housewarming BBQ" (2 years after we moved in) which a lot of our friends attended

Home and Family:

spent time with the hubs and in the home; spent a lot of time with family
successfully conceived a little bebe in less time than it takes to mail a letter to the Philippines from the U.S. --we are blessed!
experienced/experiencing the “expectant mom” life
worked on home projects little by little and continue to make our house our home

What am I looking forward to this year? This year will definitely be different that all the rest. For one, I will be a mom come March (or maybe sooner) and that will change my life forever and ever. It will change our lives forever and ever. No longer will the hubs and I be our own little unit. Now, we have to make room for someone else! It'll be a scary adventure, but I'm happy to go down that path with none other than the hubs by my side.

Here’s a few resolutions (both frivolous and serious) in light of the new year (and the new addition):

25 New Year’s Resolutions

consciously make better food choices and eat healthier (so I can be healthier and more energetic for the little bunny)
incorporate some form of exercise everyday (even 10 minutes of walking is better than none)
buy less things for myself and concentrate only on the necessities of the little one (although I think I won't have a choice on this one even if I wanted to buy that new pair of shoes!)
be more organized (about everything in general)
be conscientious about cleaning the house
throw/donate/give away things we don’t need
work on lowering my cholesterol. Really.
save more money (once I start working again)
find a balance between the “mom life” and “me life” that suits me
but be sure pursue individual passions and interests and make time for them
yet make sure to spend quality time with the hubs
work on relationship with mom and dad (and try to end phone conversations with "i love you" at the end)
be more patient (with everything and everyone)
drive slower and forget about road rage (no, it's not really worth it to chase someone down and honk at them just because they cut you off)
stop letting little things get to me
resolve not to use credit cards for clothes, books, and other non-necessities
borrow more books from the library and buy less books
cook more and eat out less
spend time and make time for friends who make time for me (everyone says you’ll know who your friends really are once you have kids….hmm)
try not to miss church for any reason (and no, 3 out of 4 sundays a month is not good enough)
stop being envious of what people have and be happy for what I have
stop comparing myself to others and realize that i can only be me
wash my face every night (no fail!) and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! (i'm not getting any younger!)
constantly strive to be a better person
stop procrastinating --carpe diem!

I have a feeling it's going to be a great year for everyone!

2006-01-06T22:38:00.000-05:00

People are People

People can really surprise you. For a few months now, my mom and friends (and I) have been planning a baby-on-the-way party/shower scheduled next weekend. We sent out save-the-dates and sent out the invitations early so that people could plan ahead (especially since it was right after the holiday season). Our invite list was made up of people we are generally close to and have been close to for many years. These are people who came to our wedding, new friends we’ve made over the years, and our relatives.

Of course, we didn’t expect people who live far away to actually come. I certainly wasn’t expecting my friends to fly in from Seattle or California! However, we did expect our close friends who live in the tri-state area to be able to make it with no problems –especially since we gave notice as early as November! Unfortunately, some of our close friends are not coming. Yes, they do have valid and understandable reasons for not going (though others just said they couldn't make it or weren't sure). It’s still disappointing, nonetheless, to know they won't be there. I had thought that this party was important to them as it was to me. Of course, I should’ve known better. Things like birthday parties, weddings, showers, baptisms, etc., are generally only important to the people immediately involved (e.g., the couple, the celebrant, what-have-you).

I had already anticipated other folks to not be able to make it, but did not expect these people to not attend. Normally, I don’t mind if people can’t make it and I don’t sweat it. However, this is not just poker night or a dinner party I’m throwing. This event is important to us; it’s not everyday that we ask people to come to a party and send them an invitation 2 months in advance! I genuinely wanted to gather all our friends to this party to celebrate our little bunny’s arrival. I know in the long run, it won’t matter who was there or not because they’re still be in our lives, regardless. It’s just a little disappointing even though I know I shouldn't take it personally.

In my opinion, people decline invitations based on only 2 basic reasons: a) they don’t want to go; or b) unavoidable conflict or illness (that is, they will be out-of-town, have another event that day, or are sick). If I want to be somewhere for someone, I plan around it. If I know in advance that May 4th is someone’s birthday party and I want to go, then I’ll make sure I am free that day (barring unavoidable conflict). Likewise, if I know it’s someone’s birthday bash on May 4th and I don’t really feel like going (or am not that close to that person), then I will I say I won’t be able to make it, simple as that. (And I decline in advance, not after I send out an e-mail or something reminding people to reply). There’s nothing wrong with not attending, and everyone (including myself) does it. It’s a part of life. Period.

Hm…and while I’m ranting…

Can I just add that it annoys me when people do not RSVP? Would it kill you to reply “yes” or “no” by the date specified? Why is it that I find myself calling/e-mailing people to get an answer? The hubs says to just assume they are not going if they don’t reply, but I know some people are just lazy when it comes to my invitations (because I see them reply with a quickness to other peoples' invites). C’mon folks! We are grown-ass people. It only takes a minute to shoot an e-mail and reply. But I will be more like the hubs from now on and be blasé about it. Really. I will take his advice from now on and just assume people are not going if they don’t reply. Less hassle that way. Okay…moving on to a more positive note...

It also surprises me that people we are not really close to can sometimes be the most thoughtful and generous. For example, we’ve already received a shower gift from a friend I have back in high school that I keep in touch with semi-occasionally over the years. We also received gifts from a friend I only see once in a while, as well as from my brother’s former girlfriend! The hubs’ aunt also sent us a generous gift: an infant car seat (one of 2 we registered for, the other being an "infant-to-toddler" convertible carseat)! We had not expected anyone (other than our parents) to buy us any of the “big ticket items” but it was delivered to our doorstep a few days ago! Talk about thoughtfulness and generosity! We feel so loved! We really appreciate it since getting baby necessities (i.e., crib, car seat, stroller, etc.) does add up.

In other words, people can surprise you and drive you bananas. I know it seems I am making a big deal about the whole party thing, but I'm just venting. Like the song goes... It's my party and I'll cry if I want to! Hahaha... Well bottom is that I still treasure these friendships and I wholly accept them. After all, in the long run, it's a just a party really.

2006-01-02T11:35:00.000-05:00

The Calm after the Storm

It is officially 2006, and the beginning of a whole new year! The past couple of weeks was a whirlwind of eating, drinking, and merry-making with family and friends. It was great, and later on this year, we get to do it all over again!

Christmas Eve

I hosted Christmas dinner this year at our humble little abode and had both sides of the family over. Usually, the hubs and I split the time between the families. We would usually go to church with his family then eat dinner with them, and then drive to Queens for my side of the family to eat a second dinner and spend the rest of the night. This year, we went to church in our town, and I prepared the Christmas feast (I started cooking at 10 am!). This year I cooked turkey (which marinated in a soy-orange-honey baste), spicy sausage lasagna, sweet potatoes, sautéed broccoli, and my famous pumpkin trifle (which the hubs and my bros really dig). My mom brought over roasted prime rib, and my mom-in-law brought over lumpia and a delicious French apple pie. We had tons of food (and still do!) and spent the night eating.

Turkey and Prime Rib

Lasagna

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

The hubs and I

My family --vegging after the feast

The Night before New Year’s Eve: The Last Hurrah

My band Plastiq Passion played its’ final gig of the year at 169 Bar on December 30th. This was my last hurrah as lead guitarist before I go on maternity leave from the band (the poor bebé is exposed to way too much loud rock music!). I tried to get my friends to go, but a majority of them had other plans (or just ignored my e-mail! =). A handful did come, including my friends visiting from Australia, as well as my parents! It’s very interesting to have your parents watch you and your band play at a bar! But they said they had fun, and they even brought their friends over who were visiting from Houston that weekend.

The photos of us were pretty grainy, but I think they ended up looking cool and artsy!

Me with the guys from Oz

(Steve, Matt in red, Ray, Moi, and their friends Jeff and Mike)

My cousin Gabby visiting from the Philippines (left)

and my uncle Ben (my dad's youngest bro)

My parents and their friends from Houston (along with their daughters)

Plastiq Passion @ 169 Bar

The band

New Year’s Eve

The hubs and I had nothing crazy planned for New Year’s Eve. I had tried to organize a small dinner party at the house, but that didn’t go through. Instead, we went over to my parents house for some Filipino food and then played Texas Hold ‘Em. My friend Girlie and Luke also came over, and we played poker until the stroke of midnight. Yes, I had some champagne! Hehehe…. All in all, it was a fun night. I was definitely winning and was chip leader, but then my cousin Gabby ended up taking all my chips in less than 3 hands!

New Year's Day

Last night, I went out for dinner at Lima's Taste Ceviche Bar in the Village. There were 12 of us altogether to celebrate our friends' Ray and Matt's last night in NYC before they fly back to Oz. The food was great and it was fun catching up with friends. Ray has been back and forth to NYC and CA about 4 times this past year and a half! He'll be back again in NYC this coming May --what a jet-setter!

Today

Since I have the day off, it’s time to take the tree down and put the decorations away. It’s a little weird to think that it’s a whole new year already! 2005 was a great year and my next post will be about 2005’s highlights.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!

2005-12-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays to everyone!
Merry Christmas to all of you out there who celebrate Christmas!
Have an enjoyable time and be sure to Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!

Cheers!

2005-12-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

UPDATED!

How to Get a Tan in the Middle of Winter

The hubs and I just got back from a short holiday to Miami. We initially planned this trip in late October, but then Hurricane Wilma hit and we had to reschedule our flight plans twice. So we reschedule for this weekend and succesfully flew out this past Friday and got back in tonight. We stayed at my parents' condo which thankfully had no structural damage whatsoever from the hurricane. All the adjacent highrises near our condo had several windows blown out. Luckily, the only damage to the condo was water damage and mold to my parent's bed and bedroom walls. Otherwise, nothing was broken.

The hubs and I had a great time relaxing in the 80-degree weather. It was a welcome change from the 15-degree weather we have here in the East Coast. In Miami, we had the chance to unwind, relax in the pool, sunbathe and even get slight tans! We ate tons of food, hung out together, and had a great time --just the two of us. This is probably out last trip together alone for a good while!

All I Want for Christmas is....You!

I can't believe Christmas Eve is only 4 days away! I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. I only need to buy one more thing for one special person, but other than that, all I need to do is wrap presents. The hubs is asking what I want to Christmas, but our little holiday together is nice enough. I told him we can just go on a baby clothes shopping spree as my present, but he knows that I like to open something up on Christmas day. So here's a list of things I would be more than happy to get for Christmas:

Anything from our baby registries at Buy Buy Baby and Target (I really don't need anything, but the baby certainly does! And I'm getting slightly worried that we may not be able to get the essentials.. e.g., car seat, stroller, changing table, etc.)
Anything from my Amazon Wish List
Gift certificates for Barnes and Noble; Starbucks; and Amazon are always appreciated.
Gift certificate to Bliss or Salon Spa 5 (I am in need of a prenatal or post-natal massage for my achy back! A nice facial would also be superb!)
National Amusements Movie Theater Passes for the hubs & I
Diapers for the baby (it's never too early to stock up)
Ok...I'm also trying to save up for a Walkmill. I've begged my parents and the hubs to help chip in but they just brush me off! I figured I can use it to help me shape up after the baby in the comfort of my own home. So for those who are interested, I am currently trying to save up funds to buy a Walkmill. Let me know if you want to contribute =).

But the only thing I'm really praying for this Christmas is that we are blessed with a healthy, happy baby when the time comes!

2005-12-11T17:16:00.000-05:00

Pregnancy Progress and Other Potpourri

Third Trimester: I am officially 7 months pregnant. Only 2 full months and a few weeks to go until the kid pops out! I’ve gotten much, much bigger and gained a lot of weight since my last picture. I usually take a picture during the half-way mark of each month, but neglected to take a photo when I was 6.5 months pregnant. Oh well. In any case, I think you can see the difference between the first picture and the second picture.

5.5 Months Preggo

7 Months Preggo

3D Ultrasound: I got suckered into getting a 3D/4D ultrasound. Okay “suckered” isn’t the exact word –more like, I followed the trend-du-jour for soon-to-be parents and plunked down some cash to see what our little bunny may look like. I got it done at A Womb with a View and it was pretty neat. A 3D ultrasound is actually just like a normal 2D ultrasound, except that they use a computer program to "fill in the blanks" and add volume to create a 3D image. It was a cool experience altogether. We got some images of the little bunny, however, the baby kept his hands (and even a foot) in front of his face for the entire time! So we don’t have any full facial images. They even gave me juice and moved me around to try to entice the kiddo to move, but I think he’s just camera shy! I told the hubs I thought the baby looked like him. (I have a feeling the little bunny will end looking like the hubs!) In reality, however, most of the babies all kinda looked alike since they use the same program to create volume and add dimension. The 3D package comes with a video of the whole procedure, plus a CD with all the 3D images. You also had the option of finding out the s*x of your baby, but we opted to remain in the dark (you'll notice I use "he" for the baby but we really don't know). The video they gave us though has the information in it! All we have to do is watch! We’ll see…if I get really desperate, we’ll pop it in the VCR on Christmas Day as a “gift” to us. Here are some 3D images:

Maternity Leave and Financial Woes: I’m planning on taking a 6-month leave from work during the third or last week of February since I am due on March 2nd. Of course, I’ll ultimately have to see how I’m feeling at that point, but I did want to work up to the last possible minute so I can earn money. I’m already feeling the “financial crunch” and I haven’t even left yet. As I mentioned before in my blog, my goal this year was to finish off my credit card debt once and for all. Alas, I haven’t quite made it yet and when I stop working, I won’t have any money at all to pay it off! I’d love to just buy baby stuff and decorate the nursery, but I have to worry about my bills which sucks. I will be out of an income for approximately 4 months or so (maybe longer if I decide to take more time off). The hubs at least will take care of the household bills, but I am worried about how to take care of my personal finances when I’m out of a job! *Sigh* At least I have the baby to look forward to!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas! It seemed December just crept up on us! I wasn't feeling very "Christmassy" until we got some snow last Friday. We got about 6-8 inches in the morning and I took off work because the hubs was worried about me driving. By the time the snow stopped falling, it was about 11 am. The hubs told me not to shovel and just stay put but I had to shovel all the snow in order to get my car out (the hubs shovelled in the morning, but when the snow stopped, it looked like he didn't go anything!) So I shovelled away and it took me a good hour to dig my car out, shovel the driveway and sidewalk, and put some salt on the ground. I did a pretty good job, though my back hurt like a mother later that night! But I didn't mind getting some physical activity.

This past weekend, I picked out a tree, decorated the tree and the house, and began the whole Christmas experience. I addressed and sent out a majority of our Christmas cards, bought a few presents (mostly on-line), and packed up gifts that need to be sent out. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I enjoy it a lot. I'm even hosting Christmas dinner this year with both our families coming over to our little home. I can't wait! And just think, come next year, I can't believe we'll be parents!

Our tree (partially decorated)

Have a good week folks!

2005-12-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

A Wedding, Harry Potter, and Rock-and-Roll

Tales from a Wanna-Be Rock Star: This past weekend was pretty cool. My weekend started Thursday night when my band played CBGBs. We were initially scheduled to play at 10:30 pm, but we got bumped down to midnight when they added another band. CBGB's is a well-known venue in NYC (and the rest of the country) for rock music. The venue itself garnered much attention these past few months because their lease was expiring and they would be forced to shut down. A lot of bands came out to try to save CBGB’s. However, they still don’t have a lease at this point and it’s open on a day-to-day basis.

I’m very happy to be able to say that we played at CBGB’s despite a less-than-stellar performance. First off, we haven’t practiced as a group since our last gig on Nov. 10th. So that’s almost a whole month of no practice. Secondly, CBGB’s requires you to bring your own equipment (though they do have a PA system, mikes, cabinets, etc.) Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of high-tech gear. So we brought in our cheapo 50-watt amps and hoped for the best. The other bands before us had towers, cabinet heads, cool equipment and the whole-nine! Oh well. Lastly, the band right before us, 'Rebel Scum' was really impressive. They played great music that is sort of in the same vein as Bloc Party, Radiohead, and Oasis, etc. They were quite polished and musically accomplished. What I hated the most was that they were all still in high school! The only reason they got into CBGB’s was because they were the band! I am so jealous of them! I felt our band paled in comparison. Boo!

On a positive note, we weren’t booed off the stage and a lot of our friends came out. The hubs even made it to the show despite the fact that we didn’t go one until almost 1 am! (He couldn’t go the last time). It was also my first time on an elevated stage with lighting and everything. I did feel like a rock star –though a reluctant one at that. I need to work on my stage presence and learn to feel more comfortable. I did feel comfortable towards the end, but I’d like to be more of a rocker and dance around (although it’s not easy to move around and play guitar when you’re almost 7 months pregnant!). The hubs took the following pics. You can also click here for a quick movie clip (don't know if it'll work though... I'm not very tech-savvy!)

On Stage

Outside Snapshot

Our next gig is on December 30th –this is my last gig before I go on “maternity leave” from the band.

Harry Potter: I finally saw Goblet of Fire this past Saturday. The hubs was nice enough to accompany me because he knows I’m such a big fan. I saw a digital projection of the film and the effects were great. Unfortunately, I have mixed feelings about the movie. I don’t think it came out as seamlessly as Prisoner of Azkaban. I do keep in mind the fact that Goblet is a longer story and that things had to be cut out due to necessity. While I was entertained, I don’t think it captured all the fine nuances of the book because of the cuts they made. While still faithful to the book, I thought the movie moved too briskly and jaggedly to try to get at all the major events in the story. I would’ve liked to see Winky and Dobby; Sirius with more than a cameo; and at least see a glimpse of the Quidditch World Cup game! But the movie was cool and exciting nonetheless. I loved the Yuletide Ball scene, the dragon challenge, Viktor Krum (hotness!), Cedric Diggory (hotness!), the scene at the graveyard, Madame Maxine, and Rita Skeeter (hilarious!). All the characters came to life for me, and I loved watching the whole thing unfold.

Wedding: I went to my friend Monique’s wedding last night. It was the first wedding I have been to in which I skipped out on the ceremony. I always make it a point to go to the ceremony because that is the whole point of a wedding. However, we just weren’t able to make the afternoon ceremony. I did enjoy the reception though. Monique and I went to law school together, but we didn’t get to know each other until we became law clerks at the same courthouse. She and I hung out with 5 other chicas and we keep in touch even though our clerkships ended in 2003. We had a blast at her wedding. I ate tons of food (including 2 servings of the bananas foster dessert!), danced away with my friends and the hubs, and momentarily forgot that it was a Sunday night!

Lawclerk Reunion

With Chris and Jill

With the Hubs


that's my parent's condo in the background	first day on the beach