BIG Borrowed Babies Weekend

Friday night, my brother and 2 cousins drove down to visit us. It was my cousins' first time visiting our place - and of course, Tim and I wanted to make their first visit a nice one. I love love love how Tim and I entertain our guests. It's becoming more apparent that we really like to have people over and we love to cook different kinds of meals for them. And before the visitors arrive, Tim and I really think about what we want to serve them. It's really fun for us and I'm so glad that Tim helps out soo much during the whole time.
When they arrived laaate Friday night, I wanted to just have some snacks around for them. I made a cheese platter similar to the one I made for Tim on our anniversary. It was cute - Joey thought it was fake when it was on our coffee table. He cracked me up throughout the whole weekend.

The visit really revolved around food, like most visits people have here. Tim and I made breakfast for them the first morning - crepes. For lunch, we all went to a buffet at this gourmet food store called World Gourmet. They just started having a lunch buffet and it's amazing. My brother and I love it... he goes to eat there pretty often. =) But yeah, the food consists of different cultures - Indian, Sri Lankan, Middle Eastern, Italian, etc etc and for such a great price. Anyway, we loved our meal like usual. We all played tennis late Saturday night too. It was really nice to play tennis with everyone again, it reminded me of back in the day =) Tennis with my brothers and cousins... good times good times. This time, we had Tim with us! hehe Everyone is so good at tennis.. fun to watch.

After tennis, it was really late and the BIG Borrowed Babies were hungry. Tim and I made Blue Cheese Burgers, Onion Rings, and Salad with homemade croutons. Everyone enjoyed it. It was a really nice weekend. Good and hilarious conversations. And really relaxing too. The weather was really nice for their trip - and it's super muggy now!
Today, we made them breakfast and my oldest brother treated us to lunch at El Porton. El Porton is also a great restaurant in Bloomington - the best Mexican restaurant I have ever been to. Hands down. The food is just really legit and delicious.
So, that was the weekend. It was fun to hang out with the guys this weekend. I definitely laughed a lot - and ate a lot. hah =P Good times good times with the BIG Borrowed Babies. haha

 The Boys

Lunch Buffet at World Gourmet

Our 1 Year Anniversary!

(for your listening pleasure, click on this link and listen to our first dance song if you'd like)
Tim and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary this weekend. I can't believe it's already been a year! Time has honestly gone by soo quickly. We started our celebration by running a 5K race on Saturday. That was fun, and I was really happy because I actually ran the whole way. This was my first 5K race. I am not a runner at all.. but this year, I really want to put some real effort into running/getting healthier. Anyway.. the race was fun and Tim got a trophy out of it. hehe He ran with me and we didn't have the best time at all.. but he was the only guy in his age range... so he was the winner! hehehe That was a cute surprise. I definitely didn't get a trophy. haha Most of the runners there were females. We got pretty lucky with the weather though.. because during the race it was just cold, but after the race it just got really rainy and windy.. and depressing.

Hopefully.. for our next 5K.. we will have a better time. I am actually really excited to do more of these things. And I'm excited to play more tennis with Tim this summer too. I brought my racket back from Michigan.. it's the one I used in high school. (!!) So long ago. Yay for outdoor activities right? =)

On Sunday.. our actual anniversary, Tim and I had a nice day. Breakfast was yummy - can't go wrong with crepes and nutella. Church was nice. And lunch with my brother was fun. The weather remained blah during the weekend, but Tim and I still had fun. After lunch, we went shopping at his favorite store, hehe. (Kohl's) And for the rest of the day, it was just low-key. We watched a couple of movies.. we rented 500 Days of Summer from RedBox and we made dinner. It was nice to just relax at home and make dinner together. Our anniversary dinner consisted of filet mignon with a roquefort cheese sauce and cornmeal-fried onion rings (recipes from Barefoot Contessa, hehe). Tim helped fry up the onion rings. They were really yummy. For dessert.. we tasted our wedding cake. hah Not horrible but not amazing either. It was fun to think of the cake at its prime though... =) Later on, we just enjoyed some cheese, fruits, and wine and kept on watching movies. Awesome night.

Tim gave me this painting for an anniversary gift. I love it. It's from the art gallery close to our place.
I make comments about these paintings each time we go in there and now I have one. =)

Photo-Op after going to Church

One year ago...

Post California Trip

I'm back home now from my California trip. I flew out last Thursday and met up with my friends to help celebrate one of our friend's birthday and her engagement! She got engaged the week before so it was nice to have a double celebration. We relaxed on the beach, walked around Balboa Island, and went to Disneyland. It was a really nice time. After a day of having fun in Disneyland, we changed into nice evening clothes and had dinner at Disney's exclusive restaurant Club 33. It was a nice meal. We all did the pre-fixed meal that included 5 courses. It was pretty good.

Ria and Kat didn't really want to ride this.. but I did. hehe

Ready for dinner!

On Sunday, I actually got to see my mom/family for Mother's Day. My sister (and group) drove down to Ria's place and I got to see the little kiddies for a little bit. Kat and I had dinner with them, so that was fun. I'm glad I got to see Inay for Mother's Day. =) hehe Lily was bummed that we didn't get to play for too long. And Ian was just super adorable and squishable. I love his cheeks. And I love the fact that he lets me just squuuuiiishhh his cheeks. hehe

Happy Mother's Day, Inay!

I love Inay's hair in this picture, haha.

(that's me, the baby)

Kat & me with the kiddies (!!!)

I love Lily's pose (super cute)

Kuya Joel never makes it in the group photos.. downfall of being the talented photographer.

Lily is such a natural ballet dancer. =)

Today.

A surprising disappointment today gave me, after a couple of hours thinking and tearing over it, the biggest motivation and compliment. Sometimes, life works like that. This post is different from most of my posts in this blog - but I just wanted to get it out there. It's like... karma. If I got a blip of motivation, I should pass it on to the universe and let it land on someone else's day. I hope. =)

Mateo Guerra for Councilor!

I absolutely love my nieces & nephew. They are so adorably precious. hehe

On a different note, this coming May will be the elections in the Philippines. My dad is running for Councilor in our hometown. It's pretty exciting to see the progress without actually being in the country. I hope he's doing well. I would assume he's probably learning a lot throughout the whole campaign. The act of running for office shows a lot of passion and dedication to the town, city, state, or country. It's very interesting and inspiring to watch in real life with a personal view.. Feel free to check out his facebook page, Mati Guerra, and see the interesting articles and videos that have been posted. I can't wait to go to the Philippines again. I'm excited for Tim to see our house, our hometown, everything. =)

Older Stuff

Hmm March went by pretty quickly, it seems like. Every weekend there was something. I just wanted to make a post real quick about my weekend with Oprah. haha My friend Daisy and I attended a taping on March 29th and we were pretty excited. Daisy and I have talked about being on the Oprah show for soo long. We love Oprah. It's been on Daisy's Bucket List to see Oprah. So, it was pretty awesome that she got tickets for us two. Now that weekend feels like ages ago already. Feels like.. After the show, we saw Tim outside and he looked more popular than Oprah. Heh He was hugging people and smiles all around, it was cute. haha =) Some of his family friends/neighbors were at the same Oprah taping too. So, that was a cute coincidence. That weekend was pretty much a Daisy & Grace weekend.. we have also been talking about this one restaurant called The Silver Palm and we thought it would be fitting to have dinner there finally... since we've been talking about it for so long too. They have this famous sandwich called the 3 Little Piggy Sandwich. It's pretty ridiculous. It has double smoked ham, pork tenderloin, bacon, gruyere cheese, and A FRIED EGG. Goodness gracious. Anthony Bourdain of "No Reservations" went to this restaurant and had to try this sandwich.. this episode literally made me and Daisy drool. Sooo.. we had to try it. Tim and I split it that night.. 'cause I think I would have had a heart attack if I finished that thing alone. Daisy tried it as well... splitting it 3-ways with Michael and Carla. It's definitely enough to feed a lot of people. But yeah, we pretty much all agreed that anything with a fried egg on top is worth trying and devouring. =) It was delicious.

Lily Week

On Easter, my sister and niece flew to Illinois. My sister had to work for the week and I babysat Lily here at home while she worked. It was definitely a nice experience to take care of Lily everyday. She is hilarious and super smart. I had so many nice conversations with her. She loves our apartment and loved helping me make food =) We got to enjoy some arts & crafts - she's very good at making necklaces & bracelets. I was very proud. hehe We visited around town and she got to play at a Chess cafe (she really loves checkers) and see little kids getting a Chess lesson. We also walked to a Chocolate Candy Store which she loved. She got to pick out her favorite "golden pennies". Before that, we walked to a hobby store that had an elaborate train set set up. Another favorite of hers are trains. She really is an interesting little girl. She loves trains, shadows, and arts & crafts. heh Super cute and random. She did really well for being away from her mommy for days straight. Tim and I had a lot of fun with her. Though, during the time - Tim got really sick... so I had to take care of the 2 of them! Good thing Lily didn't get sick too..

We also got to hang out in Chicago, which she really loved. She would look out of the hotel room and yell out "Look Ninang Grace! It's the city! The city of Chicaaago!"=) She loved all of the buildings and the "huge" bean and the bridge. I think she had a great time at our place and Chicago. She even got to party with my friends too. My sister and Lily joined my friends and me at a sushi restaurant(Sushi Mura) for a birthday celebration on Friday night. She did really well there and had a lot of fun. Of course, she got her second wind when she saw the huge birthday cake. =) I love Lily and I miss her already!

All in all, it was so fun being with her. Our "practice run" was a success. haha I didn't coin that term.. everyone else did. haha We miss Lily and we can't wait to see her again.

I took a picture of Lily while she was saying a prayer that lasted for 10 minutes! Seriously, 10 minutes.
It was so adorable & sweet. She was thankful for everything from her "big family" to "lamps" to "toys at ninang grace's house" and her "dresses" etc. So precious.

I taught her to do the Peace sign! haha

Lily loves her Tito Tim - here's the two of them at Millennium Park

Hanging out at the hotel room

Melissa's NYC Birthday Celebration!

The tradition lives on...

My girlfriends and I have celebrated Melissa's birthdays in New York for 3 years. (Last year was the only exception) 2007 was the first time we truly celebrated her birthday in NYC. Each celebration has been amazingly awesome. It's always great to meet up with the girls and party and chill out together. As the years go on, more and more people are celebrating with us. This year, Tim and our friend Michael got to join in on our NYC shenanigans. We party in different cities for each girls' birthdays.. but I think we all agree, there's always that little something about Melissa's birthday celebrations in New York. Maybe it's 'cause it's the first one of the year.. or there's just something about it that reminds us about 2007.. (well, at least for me it does). because that party really has a special spot in my heart. I think it's when I really knew that I have such amazing friends that I can have thee most fun times with.. that these girls will be in my life forever.. and that I am really grateful I can say that. but yeah, Melissa's birthdays have always been really sweet to celebrate.

As always, we had a great time together. Cakes, chicken, and parties. Haha We got super lucky with soo many things...The weather, the parking, the room service.. good times good times. We stayed at a nice hotel in the Financial District... It was a lot of fun.

Gotta love the prom pose. hahaha

The birthday girl and me.. we got our hair done by our friend Bernadette. hehe

Everyone looks so beautiful!

During the day, we did a lot of walking around. We ate at Shake Shack at Madison Square Park. The line for it was RIDICULOUS. We waited an hour and twenty minutes for this meal. Yeahh. But it was really good. And honestly, the weather was perfect for waiting in a park anyway. Tim and I walked the entire Brooklyn Bridge with Marilen and Jeff. That was fun but super tiring. My feet and legs hurt a lot from this weekend. Crazy heels and crazy amount of walking during the day makes for a lot of pain. hah

Brooklyn Bridge

Me & Marilen after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

No more walking... pleease.

On Sunday, before leaving New York.. Tim and I went and watched a performance at Carnegie Hall. That is a beautiful place. Tim got us good seats. First row of the Center Circle. Standing up or walking along in the balcony in the front row made my knees shake. hehe You can easily tip over and fall off! hah I survived. =P The symphony was great. Afterward, we bought some pizza slices and ate it on the subway. Goooood pizza!

In the hotel, right before leaving everyone... and heading out to Carnegie Hall.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Busy busy. Over the weekend, we had Kareem, Dina and Mena over our place. They got to just relax at our place and eat and eat. Hahah The trip really revolved around the food the whole time. It was fun to just hang out with them. We watched a dvd Saturday night. We showed them around a little bit. I think they had a nice time. Mena sure loves his Tito Tim! =) I didn't get to take pictures during their visit though.. it's too bad 'cause I really wanted pictures of the special lunch I made on Sunday. A beautiful and delicious rib roast. Tim and I wanted to try out a recipe I found. It was so good. Definitely something I will make again for a special gathering.

Tim and I are in Wisconsin right now. He had to come here for work and I'm just a tag-along. =) I can do the work I need to do while at home over here in a hotel room too. So, it's nice to still be with Tim even if he has to go away for work. We drove out here yesterday. Not too long of a drive, about 4 hours to Milwaukee. We're in a smaller town right now but we got to hang out in Milwaukee yesterday. We drove straight to a brewery we wanted to check out. We did the Brewery Tour and got some sample coupons. The place we went to was Sprecher Brewery. I highly recommend this place and their tour. It's not too long of a tour but you get to sample 4 glasses worth of their beer and unlimited of their sodas. All tasty. Tim and I were very hungry when we got there, so we ate some yummy cheese curds and pretzel too. Delicious. We had a good time there. We even met some people from Michigan.. the guy actually knew a few mutual friend of ours! Small world! And the one girl lives in the area I used to live in in Michigan. Very random! =) We bought some of the beer and sodas to bring home =) Buying from a brewery and cutting out the middle man makes for a very cheap beer and soda! =) Cheap in price and not in taste. ;)

After that, we drove to downtown Milwaukee. I really like what I saw there. Just a neat downtown, close to the water. The lofts looked like awesome places to live in. The feel of the city was pretty cool. It was ... a small big town kind of feel. And I like that. We ate dinner downtown - it was pretty good. Then afterward, we drove to our hotel - about a 50 min drive from downtown Milwaukee. We'll be here for a few days.. Once I upload some of our photos from yesterday, I'll post 'em here.

On a very random note - I just uploaded a video from Thanksgiving times of my niece Samara. We had my family visit the art gallery next door to us. The owners are good friends of ours. They have a piano there and it was so cute when Samara sat down - and played & sang. Suuuper cute and funny. Our friends loved my nieces and nephew. hehe Samara and my sister in law have been in the Philippines since the day after Thanksgiving. Tim and I reallllly miss seeing Samara. =)

March Already

Wow, it's the 3rd month of the year already... that is nuts. And I think March is going to fly by too. Tim and I have a lot of things going on this month. Exciting.

The weather was really nice today. It was nice and sunny. And I actually put my car windows down a little bit while driving.. the sun was making me too warm. That felt great! I'm tired of the cold weather. I'm ready for Spring and Summer!

I talked to my sister this morning.. and she told me that Lily was telling her that I was supposed to make marshmallows and donut holes with her when I was there(I had mentioned we would earlier in the vacation). That girl's memory is ridiculously amazing. My sister had to tell her, next time instead. Ooops. Never make promises to kids unless you can keep 'em!! Eek! =P hehe I had to make purple cupcakes with Lily during Thanksgiving 'cause I mentioned we would make them during Ian's birthday weekend. And we didn't get a chance to, and she still remembered months and months later! hah So I guess I have a couple of To Do's the next time I hang out with Lily again =)

Here are a few photos from my phone during my California trip that I finally got to upload today.. Ian is so freakin' cute. I love it! =)